Saviour
by EliteDog
Summary: A Gardevoir's view on humans is changed after she is saved by one, the two form a strong bond but one of them doesn't understand it.
1. a peaceful walk ,,, NOT

**This is my first attempt at writing, so tell me how I did**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon**

**...**

A lush green forest, tall trees as far as the eye could see. There was a slight breeze blowing through the trees making the branches shake slightly. Sounds of nature and its creatures could be lightly heard from almost anywhere you stood. It was late in the day but the sun was still up, giving light to this world.

Not too far from the edge of this of this forest a lone figure walked. A fairly tall slender figure kept a slow pace with its white dress nearly touching the ground. The upper half of its dress was green that stretched to its arms and covered most of its chest. In between its two breasts was what appeared to be a large red gem only slightly smaller than its breasts, which seemed to go out its back. Its pale skin that almost matched its white dress. Its emerald coloured hair that curved around its round head but overlapped by the pale spikes stretching back out of the side of its head. Its big eyes that matched the colour of its red gem. This figure was a Gardevoir.

She continued to walk along a small path like area between the trees. Adding a skip in her step every now and then. Gardevoir took in the sight of the forest as she continued to explore this area of it that was new to her. Smiling as she pass by the many different Pokémon this forest inhabited. She recently migrated to this forest and so far has enjoyed it.

Gardevoir didn't know what direction she was going, but she didn't really care for the moment. The sounds of the forest got quieter as she continued on. She noticed this after a while but shrugged it off as she assumed the Pokémon might be getting ready to sleep, as it was getting close to sundown. A few more minutes passed, all the sounds of the Pokémon faded away. Gardevoir wondered why but continued walking.

A few moments past, but it seemed so much longer for Gardevoir as the silence consumed the forest, all she could hear where the sounds of her footsteps and occasional breath. Gardevoir was starting to get nervous. The silence was broken was a small rustle was heard just ahead of her. Gardevoir froze in spot, unsure of what made the sound. She tries to sense what made the sound, but got nothing. She wanted to believe it was just the wind, but she couldn't convince herself that it was.

Another rustle, this time behind her. Gardevoir quickly turned around and put her arms up in a defensive stance. Two more rustles where heard on each of her side, and what sounded like a twig snapping behind her. Fear started to overtake Gardevoir as she slowly turned around.

As she turned she saw what made the sound. Some Mightyena slowly came out of the bushes, Gardevoir looked to her right and saw more and even an Umbreon add to it, she looked to her left and behind her and saw more and some Houndoom. In total she was surrounded by 5 Mightyenas 3 Houndooms and 2 Umbreons, with one of the Mightyena that seemed bigger than the rest and was missing part of his ear that appeared to be bitten off, this one appeared to be the leader of the pack. No wonder Gardevoir couldn't sense anything, they were all Dark types. Which only worsen things because they had a huge advantage on her and her Psychic attacks won't work. Gardevoir cursed under her breath as this was clearly a bad situation. She must have crossed into their territory of the woods. She hoped that maybe they didn't want to harm her, but she knew that was very unlikely.

All hopes of that thought shattered as the leader Mightyena took a few steps towards her, and licked his lips. Gardevoir's eyes widened and she stood in shock as that could mean a number of things, none of which are good for her.

The leader took that look as an opportunity and pounced towards her with his fangs bared. Gardevoir quickly jumped to the side. She held her hands together and prepared to teleport away. One of the Umbreons noticed this, and looked at her with glowing dark eyes. Gardevoir made that mistake by looking directly in its eyes and fell under the effect of Mean look. Gardevoir knew she was in trouble as now she could no longer escape. The leader than let out a loud howl, and the rest of the pack started to growl and move in closer. Gardevoir put her arms up and prepared to fight for her life.

One of the Houndooms shot a flamethrower; Gardevoir dodged it by jumping to the right. An Umbreon was waiting for this and used a pursuit attack. Gardevoir saw this and shot a thunderbolt directly at the Umbreon, sending it flying into a tree. Two Mightyena charged at her, but Gardevoir simply jumped up and they crashed into each other. While she was in the air a Houndoom talked her and sent her crashing into a tree. The Houndoom landed and continued to charge at Gardevoir. While recovering from her impact with the tree, a small blue orb was forming in Gardevoir's hand. The Houndoom pounced toward Gardevoir with the intend to bite her neck. Gardevoir released the blue orb into the Houndoom's chest, which sent the Houndoom crashing into the ground a few meters away. The rest of the pack looked at the Houndoom as it tried to get up, but could not find the energy to do so.

The pack looked at Gardevoir in anger, however the leader gave what looked like a grin. His interest pecked at such a worthy prey. Gardevoir knew the move she just used, Focus blast, was her best option, but due to it being difficult to aim she would have to try and use it at close range. The leader gave a barking order, and the rest of the pack formed a V formation, with the end of the V facing away from Gardevoir. The two remaining Houndooms in the front, the Umbreons behind them and then the Mightyenas with the leader in the back center. Gardevoir look around for anything that could help her, and her eyes caught the sight of a few large rocks, this gave her an idea.

The pack charged, Gardevoir used her psychic to lift the large rocks and threw one at the left side of the pack. The Houndoom in front ducked but the rock hit the Umbreon in the face with the Mightyena behind it tripping over the Umbreon. The Houndooms started to launch flamethrowers at Gardevoir as she started to levitate backwards. Gardevoir smiled as her plan was working, as long as they moved with her Mean look wouldn't stop her. Gardevoir threw two move rocks, one at each side. The leader barked for everyone to jump and the entire left side jumped over it, but the Houndoom on the right wasn't as lucky as the rock was thrown higher and ended up jumping into it with the rest jumping over its body. Gardevoir picked up the 5 remaining rocks and prepared to throw them. The last Houndoom shot a flamethrower and scorched her left arm. This caused Gardevoir to lose her concentration and drop the rocks in front of her.

Gardevoir stopped and looked at her arm, it wasn't burnt but it still hurt. A slight crumble was heard, Gardevoir looked up to see one of the Umbreons one the rock. Then disappeared with a flash and hit her with a faint attack. This knocked Gardevoir on the ground, as she tried to get up she saw from the corner of her eye a Mightyena charge at her. Gardevoir quickly fired a Focus blast but went to the left which the Mightyena easily dodged and used crunch on her right leg. Gardevoir screamed in pain as the Mightyena enjoyed the taste of her flesh. He didn't notice that Gardevoir's right fist become engulfed in flames, and she used fire punch on the Mightyena's face. The Mightyena was knocked back by the punch which left a mark on his nose. The bite was deep in Gardevoir's leg and she was bleeding. An Umbreon and a Mightyena rushed her at two sides; Gardevoir charged a Focus blast in each of her hands. She waited until they were close, then fired them at their heads sending them crashing into the rocks that were still nearby. The leader then lowered himself and started to approach her slowly, growling as he advanced. Gardevoir was slightly intimated by this, but charge a Focus blast. Time seemed to slow as the leader slowly advanced, the rest of the pack not daring to intervene.

Gardevoir saw he was close enough and fired her Focus blast. The leader smiled and jumped right over it. He moved so quickly, Gardevoir barley saw his fangs start to glow purple. Gardevoir tried to move out of the way but the leader bite onto her right shoulder with Poison fang. The leader gripped Gardevoir tighter and begun to swing her back and forth and launch her into one of the large rocks. Gardevoir slowly opened her eyes, wincing at the pain in her shoulder, arm and leg. She could feel that the poison had already gotten into her bloodstream. She took in her surroundings and saw that the rest of the pack, even the Houndoom that she first hit with a Focus blast has caught up.

The leader had possibly the most sadistic grin Gardevoir ever saw on his face, and he slowly approached with the rest of the pack watching. The leader was going to finish Gardevoir off. She tried to move from her sitting up position against the rock but her legs wouldn't respond. The leader then pounced towards Gardevoir with his fangs aimed right at her face. Gardevoir mustered all her remaining strength and brought her arms up. She grabbed the leaders muzzle with her hands and managed to stop him. Put the leader was clearly more physically strong and slowly began to push close to Gardevoir's face.

Gardevoir had never been more scared in her life with death literally inches away from her and getting closer in the form of huge drooling fangs. Gardevoir moved her right hand closer to the muzzle front but ended up going into the leader's mouth. He chomped on it but not fully because of Gardevoir's other hand, otherwise it probably would have come off. Gardevoir screamed in pain, but was barley heard other the howls of the rest of the pack. Gardevoir then decided to put every ounce of energy she could find in her right hand. The leader then noticed that a blue glow was coming out of his mouth and stopped. As the glow brightened his eyes widened realized what it was. Gardevoir saw that and knew it was time.

Before the leader could pull away Gardevoir fired a Focus blast into the leader's mouth and blasting straight through the back of his head. The leader flew back a few feet and landed on the ground with his legs twitching. Blood was pouring out of his head and continued after the twitching stopped. The howling died down as it took the rest of the pack a few moments to realize what just happened. They stared in shock as they looked upon the leader, without a doubt dead. Their eyes darted towards Gardevoir who was struggling to get up. Once she was on her feet, while leaning against the rock, she gave the rest of the pack a very scornful look. The pack looked at each other in fear unsure of what to do. About 30 seconds passed until a Houndoom began to slowly approach their fallen leader. Both Gardevoir's and Houndoom's eyes were fixed on each other until he reached the leaders corpse. He then bite onto the leaders tail and began to drag him away. One of the Umbreon eventually helped him and the rest of the pack disappeared with them into the forest.

Once they were out of site Gardevoir collapsed. She looked at her shoulder wound and saw that it was full of purple bubbles, the poison was getting worse. She then looked at her leg wound and saw it was still bleeding; she was losing a lot of blood. Gardevoir had to find help; she gathered her energy and levitated slightly off the ground. She slowly moved through the forest looking for anything that could help her. She was unfamiliar with this part of the forest and thus had no idea where she was. The poison was draining her of her energy and fast, and leaving a large tail of blood behind.

Gardevoir's vision was starting to blur, she didn't notice a slight hill ahead of her and fell down it no longer able to levitate. She could feel her legs anymore, and her right side felt like it was being eaten. Gardevoir attempted to pull herself with her left arm, the only part of her body besides her head she could move. But she couldn't muster the strength. She lay there on her chest, blood still pouring out of her, almost her entire right arm covered in purple bubbles, tears in her eyes.

Gardevoir lay there, and waited for death to take her.


	2. Not even a thankyou

**This took a little longer than I planned, as a result it's twice as long as the first chapter, ENJOY!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon**

**...**

30 minutes earlier

"ALEX! Could you come downstairs for a moment?" shouted a sweet feminine voice from downstairs.

"Okay Mom, be right down" responded a young energetic voice from upstairs

Walking down the stairs was a young 10 year old boy named Alex. Alex had light brown hair that was short, but long enough that it would move in the wind. Blue eyes that currently had a look of joy in them. He was a little tall for his age, standing at about 3'9''. Wearing a white shirt with blue jeans. Basically what you'd expect from a normal 10 year old boy.

"What is it Mom?" Alex asked his Mother, Abigail, as he reached the bottom of the stairs and entered the kitchen.

Abigail was a woman in her mid-forties, but age didn't take much of a toll on her. She had long brown hair that almost reached her legs. She shared the same blue eyes that Alex had. Standing at 5'9'' she wore a red jacket with red boots to match it, and dark blue pants. Looking like she was ready to go somewhere.

"I'm going to the store to pick up some vegetables, could you turn the stove off to let dinner cool in about 10 minutes please." She asked in a polite tone.

"Okay Mom." Alex responded

"Be back in about an hour" she said as she headed out the door.

Alex walked into the living room, wondering what to do to pass the time. His eyes landed on the rather large bookshelf in the corner of the room. He picked a book at random, and ended up in his hands with a book about Pokémon habitats. Alex shrugged and moved to the chair to read.

Alex opened the book and found the section on forest habitats. He read about the types of Pokémon that usually live in the forest, what they eat, where to find them and so on. Alex looked out the window to see the forest just outside their house. Mt. Coronet could be seen in the distance. Beacon town that they lived in the Sinnoh region wasn't that far from Mt. Coronet, but still about a day's walk. Beacon town was a small town at the edge of the forest, and Alex and his Mom lived at the end of it next to the forest alone. Due to Alex's father dying from a sickness when Alex was 6.

Alex continued to look at the forest thinking maybe he should go for a walk, he looked at the clock and noticed that it had almost been 10 minutes. Alex went to the stove in the kitchen and turned it off like he said he would. Alex looked out the window again and figured he would go for a small walk in the forest. Alex set the book down and put on his black jacket and boots, and headed out the door. As Alex went through the back yard he noticed the berry trees in it. His mother grew a garden of most types of berries and provided them for the town, which was their main source of income. Alex approached the first row of trees and saw that this batch was ready to be picked. He would have to remind himself to do that later. Alex then continued to walk into the forest.

Alex walked in the forest for a while, he knew not to go to deep in case he got lost or ran into a dangerous Pokémon. He took in the sight of the forest, the lush green environment much like he saw in the book. He saw a few Pokémon along the way, a small group of Bidoof, some Starly flying overhead, even a Butterfree that seemed to be following the Starly. However as Alex continued to walk all sounds of the Pokémon he could hear faded away. Alex continued to walk, looking around to see if he could find a reason why that was happening. He noticed a mark on a tree and approached it cautiously.

The mark looked like a paw of a Pokémon he could recognize that seemed to be carved into the tree by a Pokémon paw itself. It soon hit Alex with what it was; he read in the book that it was a territory mark left by some sort of canine Pokémon. Alex had just entered the territory of what he assumed where dangerous Pokémon. Alex knew he had to get out as fast as he could, but as he turned around he noticed something odd. There appeared to be a red liquid of some sort on a plant just a few feet from him. As Alex approached it he noticed there was more around the plant in some sort of trail. Alex bent down on his knees and hesitantly put his finger into the red liquid. As he held it up to his face the warm red liquid began to drip down his finger very slowly. Alex recognized this as blood. He quickly shook it off his finger, and look at the trail of it. Someone was bleeding and losing a lot of blood based on how big the trail was. From the position of the drops Alex could see that the owner of the blood was moving to his right. Alex knew he should get out of here as soon as possible, but he couldn't help but wonder if that someone was still alive. He got up and started to head back home but only took a few steps.

Parts of Alex's mind were arguing with each other, one side telling him to leave, the other telling him to see what is going on. He knew that it would be dangerous to stay any longer and even more dangerous to go deeper into this part of the forest. But he would never stop thinking about just who the blood belonged to. Alex put his hand to his head as his conscience argued with his curiosity. Alex groaned in frustration as his curiosity got the better of him. Alex followed the blood knowing he was going to regret it.

As Alex followed the blood he could see that the spaces between the drops were getting smaller. Either the owner was slowing down or was losing more blood. Alex slowed down as he approached the top of a hill. Alex looked down and saw that down the hill were imprints in the grass with blood spattered everywhere. The owner must have fallen down the hill. The hill was only a few feet tall but it was steep, so Alex had to carefully slide down it. When Alex reached the bottom of the hill he looked a few feet ahead of the blood, and couldn't believe what he saw.

Alex approached what he believed to be a girl in a white dress lying on the ground, but as he got closer he noticed the green hair. Alex stopped over her and looked her over. When he saw her face he realized this was a Pokémon, but one he had never seen before. He looked around the body and saw that her shoulder was purple and had bubbles that seemed to be spreading to her arm. Alex recognized this as poison. He looked at her legs and saw that the blood was coming from one of them, and she was still bleeding slowly. He put his head close to hers, and his fingers on her neck. A faint breath could be heard, and a weak pulse was felt. She was still alive, but barley. Alex started to panic unsure of what to do, he had to get help. Alex reached to pick her up, but stopped as he remembered hearing somewhere that you shouldn't move an injured person. Besides Alex doubted he could lift her anyways. Alex wasn't that strong and she was almost twice his size. Alex knew it was a bad idea to leave her here, but he had to do something. He got up and ran home.

Alex ran faster than he knew he could, as he passed by the trees, jumping all rocks and logs he came across. In only a few minutes Alex found the end of the forest and reached his house.

"MOM!" Alex shouted as he entered the house

No answer. His Mom wasn't home yet. Alex didn't know what to do, who to ask for help. He needed to think of something fast. Alex then remembered the berries and that some berries can heal Pokémon. Alex bolted out the door, not even caring to shut it, towards the berry garden. Alex found a Sitrus berry tree and picked a ripe one. Alex then remembered that the Pokémon was poisoned, but couldn't remember which berry was the one that healed poison.

"_Rawst? No that's for burns." _Alex thought as he tried to remember"_Was it Chesto? No, Persim? ...Wait, Persim, P-Pe, Pec, PECHA!" _

Alex ran over to the Pecha berry tree, and picked the pink and green berry. With the two berries in each hand, Alex ran back into the forest.

In a few minutes Alex reached the hill the Pokémon was by, not even bothering to slow down as he slide down the hill almost tripping in the possess. Alex reached the bottom of the hill and the Pokémon. He quickly checked for a pulse. After a moment he felt it, he sighed in relief that he wasn't too late. Deciding to cure the poison first, he picked the leaf off the Pecha berry and placed it in her mouth. Realizing that she couldn't chew or shallow it, Alex tried moving her jaw up and down with his hands. He could hear the sound of the berry being chewed and hoped the rest would be natural.

"_Please Arceus let this work_" Alex thought as he continued to move her jaw up and down slowly

His prayer was answered when Alex felt the Pecha berry move down the throat and swallowed. Alex looked at the Pokémon's shoulder and saw the berry already taking effect. The bright purple on her arm darkened and slowly began to dissipate. Alex smiled at this, and grabbed the Sitrus berry. He broke this berry in half due to it being bigger than the Pecha, and placed it in her mouth. This time the Pokémon chewed the berry on her own and swallowed it. Alex looked at her leg and saw that the bleeding had stopped, but was still covered in blood.

The Pokémon shuffled a bit, causing Alex to jump slightly. She let out a slight moan, and then Gardevoir started to open her eyes. She lifted her body with her hands slightly and looked around. Gardevoir was confused as to what's was going on. As she scanned the area her eyes stopped at the figure next to her. Alex smiled at her happy that she was okay, however Gardevoir did not smile back. Instead her eyes filled with fear, Gardevoir tried to scurry away backwards with her hands and legs until she backed up to a tree and stopped. This was not the reaction Alex had expected as his smile died down, she was clearly scared.

Gardevoir was paralyzed with fear as she was on the ground backed up against a tree. Out of all things to find her, why did it have to be a human. She has only seen humans a few time before and had heard about how cruel and dangerous humans are, they build giant metal monsters to destroy their homes, those small wired shaped things they hold that make loud sounds and hurt others, and worst of all those small round objects they have to capture them and force them to fight each other for their amusement. As Gardevoir continued to look in fear she noticed that this was a child, but even so he still could be dangerous.

Alex looked at Gardevoir as she was breathing heavily and not moving an inch, almost frozen against that tree. Alex got on his knees.

"It's okay, I won't hurt you" Alex said as calm as he could hoping she could understand him.

Gardevoir wasn't even bothering to listen as she was trying to find a way to escape. Her eyes battered around looking for anything that could help her. Maybe she could throw some sticks to distract him, or push him with a Psychic attack and run for it or teleport and... Gardevoir then realized something. Some of her power had been resorted and since the pack was gone Mean look was no longer in effect. Gardevoir then put her hands together. The next thing Alex saw was a small flash of light, and she was gone.

Alex stood up and looked around, he couldn't see her anywhere. Alex guessed that the Pokémon used some sort of move to escape. Alex looked up and noticed the sun setting, and decided to head home. Alex put the other half of the Sitrus on the ground and started to walk back home with his hands in his pockets, with a sad look on his face.

Gardevoir was trying her best not to make a sound. She didn't teleport very far; in fact she was only 20 feet away behind a tree. She sensed the human walking away, and waited. Once he was far enough she slid down the tree to sit and let out a sigh of relief, hoping that this horrible event was finally over. She couldn't believe that a human almost got her, all those dark types was bad enough. She was lucky that enough of her power was restored to teleport a small distance. Then she thought something.

"_How was my power restored?" _

Gardevoir looked at her shoulder and to her suspired she saw a black sludge that was once the purple poison. She brushed it off in disgust, leaving a black smudge on her shoulder. She then looked at her leg and saw it along with some of her dress stained with blood, but she was no longer bleeding.

She couldn't how recovered herself, poison would have prevented that. But here she was, no longer poisoned and okay. Gardevoir noticed she had two tastes in her mouth. She licked her lips to the familiar taste but couldn't place what it was.

Seeing that it was safe now, she emerged from behind the tree and approached the area where she saw the human. She noticed next to where to almost died was a half eaten berry. She picked it up to see that it was a Sitrus berry, which were also her favorite. She took a bite out of it and discovered that it was one of the tastes in her mouth. That explains how some of her power was restored, but not how the poison was stopped. She looked to see if there were any more berries, and she spotted an odd leaf on the ground. She picked it up and recognized it as the leaf of a Pecha berry. That would also explain the cured poison, but one question still remained.

"_How did they get here?" _

She looked around and saw no Berry trees, and she clearly didn't get them herself. She could only think of one plausible reason, the human child. Could he have brought the berries to her? Gardevoir didn't want to believe that unlikely scenario, but the more she thought about it the more likely it seemed. How else could the berries have gotten to her and even be feed to her? But why would a human do that? If he was going to capture her he would have used one of those accursed balls while she was weak

Gardevoir look in the direction the human went, her mind filled with questions. She could still sense him not that far away as he was moving at a slow pace. She didn't want to go in that direction, afraid that she might get captured or worse hunted but she had to know. Did the human save her? And why? With every instinct in her body telling her not to, she started to follow the same direction as the human.

Alex continued to walk; about 5 minutes had passed since the Pokémon disappeared from him. He was happy that she was okay but wished she could have stayed. He at least wanted to know what Pokémon it was. She didn't even speak to him, just vanished.

Gardevoir managed to catch up to Alex, but was keeping out of eye distance. She could sense his movements and emotions. His emotion was what caught her attention, he was sad. Why was he sad?

Alex was almost there when he thought of something. The books at his house, surly one of them was a book about different types of Pokémon. Maybe he could find one with that Pokémon in it. She started to jog, eager to get home faster.

Gardevoir picked up on the human speeding up and his excitement. Wondering why the sudden change in the human's emotion, she picked up her pace as well but still kept her distance.

In a few minutes Alex reached his home. And as he entered he was unexpectedly greeted.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN YOUNG MAN?!" shouted Alex's Mom Abigail with a look of worry on her face.

"Mom calm down, I was in forest." Alex honestly responded

"THE FOREST?! AT THIS TIME?!" Abigail said obviously not calmed down "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED I WAS?! WHAT IF A WILD POKEMON ATTACKED YOU?!"

"I didn't go that far in the forest." Alex said deciding to leave the part of finding the territorial mark out "and I... I found something"

Abigail's face shifted from anger to curiosity, but you could still see the tension in her eyes. "Oh, and what would that be?' she said

"Well to be more precise, I found someone." Alex said as he prepared to explain everything "I found a Pokémon in the forest, but it was injured bad. Poisoned and bleeding." The image of the Pokémon entered Alex's mind as he tried to hold back tears" It was dying, I had to do something"

Abigail nodded to let him continue

"So I ran back home and picked a Sitrus and Pecha berry, bought them back to it and they healed it." Alex said

"Then what happened?" Abigail asked

"Well it put its hands together and disappeared in a flash of light" Alex responded

Abigail let out a slight chuckle "It didn't even bother to thank you?"

"No" Alex said with a smile seeing that his Mom has calmed down "I think it was afraid of me"

"Well, most wild Pokémon are afraid of humans" Abigail explained "but Alex that Pokémon might have attacked you, even because it was afraid of you"

"I didn't think of that" Alex admitted

Abigail kneeled down and pulled Alex into a hug

"Just... be more careful, okay?" Abigail asked

"Okay, I promise" Alex said, he wasn't surprised by this. She was always this way since Alex's father died

Gardevoir stood at the edge of the forest, looking at the house the human entered. She could sense another presence in the house, and didn't dare to go any closer. This was the first time she saw a house, it seemed smaller then what most Pokémon told her. She heard that they built these things out of metal and glass and they reached the sky. She didn't care much for that however. She looked over the area, and noticed some familiar looking trees in the clearing. Gardevoir started to make her way over to them, while staying at the edge of the forest.

Alex was sitting in the living room and looking through a book that had information about many different types of Pokémon, hoping to find the one he found in the Forest. So far he had no luck as he continued to flip through the pages.

"Watcha looking at son?"

Alex jumped slightly, startled by his Mom.

"I'm looking for the Pokémon I found in the forest, I never saw it before." Alex answered

"Well, what did it look like?" Abigail asked

"Well it was tall, about your height. Had green hair and arms. A red gem on its back and chest. Red eyes and I think it was wearing a white dress." Alex explained

Abigail put her finger to her chin, thinking about it.

"Don't think I've heard of a Pokémon like that before." she said

Alex sighed and continued flip through the pages of the book.

"You said it disappeared in a flash of light, correct?" Abigail asked

Alex nodded

"Well if I'm not mistaken that would be the move teleport, and if I recall only Psychic type Pokémon can learn that move naturally." Abigail explained "You should try searching for those types."

Alex smiled "thanks Mom."

She smiled back "No problem, dinner will be ready in about 5 minutes."

Alex nodded as she walked into the kitchen.

Alex easily found the section on Psychic types, as it was coloured pink. Alex found Abra, Drowzee, Espeon (smiling at how cute it was), then he stopped on the picture of #282 and it said on the top of the page.

"Gardevoir." Alex whispered to himself. He continued to read with interest.

_**Gardevoir the embrace Pokémon and one of the final evolutions of Ralts. Gardevoirs are powerful Psychic type Pokémon that can ignore the effects of gravity with their psychic power, with this they can levitate. Gardevoirs are known to be extremely loyal to the point of sacrificing their own life to protect those they care about. Unless provoked, wild Gardevoirs usually won't attack humans. Using its psychic energy Gardevoirs can have visions of the future but will not attempt to change it because they know it is impossible to. Despite its feminine looks and having a male only counterpart Gallade, Gardevoirs can be either male or female.**_

There was more but Alex was then interrupted by his Mom. "Alex! Dinner's ready!" she called

"Coming Mom." Alex responded, he sent down the book and went to the kitchen.

Meanwhile Gardevoir was examining the trees she found near the house. She came across a Sitrus berry tree; she looked down the rows and saw a Pecha berry tree a few rows over. This confirmed it. Her life was saved, by a human. Gardevoir just couldn't wrap her head around it. She always heard that humans were the most cruel and dangerous of all creatures on this planet. Sure she could probably send one through a wall with one attack, but they had weird devices that could kill them or capture them easily. And to make things worse they made their own kind fight against them. So why didn't this human try anything on her? Was it because he was just a child? But she doubted she was much older than him because human mature at a much slower rate than most Pokémon, but that didn't really matter.

Gardevoir looked up at the sky. The sun had set and the moon was starting to rise into the sky. Gardevoir decided to find somewhere to sleep, and entered the forest. Only a moment of walking led her to a clearing which had a small pond in it. Gardevoir look at the black smudge left by the poison on her shoulder, and the blood stain on her leg and dress. Gardevoir sensed to see if anyone was around and to her surprise no one, not even water Pokémon, was in the area. Gardevoir was slightly wary in case a dark type jumped her again, but she doubted the pack would bother her again seeing as how she killed their leader. Seeing how dirty she was after that battle, Gardevoir decided to clean herself.

Gardevoir slipped her arms through the sleeves of her dress, then slipped the rest over her and place it on the ground. Revealing the pale white skin on her body. The moonlight giving her a bit of a glow on her body. She stepped over to the pond to look her reflection. She watched her hands glide over the curves of her body up to her breasts. They were only slightly bigger than her chest spike but they were perked and round. She slowly stepped into the water, quickly adjusting to the temperature.

Gardevoir began to rub water on the blood stain on her leg, seeing some parts of the water change to red for a few moments. Once it was clean she looked over the wound on her leg. A bite mark was left there but it didn't look like it would leave a scar.

She then lifted some water with her psychic in a bubble and slowly poured it on her shoulder wound. After rubbing the rest of the black smudge off, she looked at the wound. This one as clearly worse, it left a mark that almost looked like her shoulder was cracked open like a rock. She sighed at this knowing that it wouldn't disappear anytime soon, and possibly leave a scar.

Gardevoir then lifted her dress with psychic and brought it over to her. She proceeded to clean the blood stain and black smudge off it. She looked at the shoulder of the dress seeing it ripped from the poison fang attack. She singed and concentrated as her eyes glowed blue and the dress stared to repair the rip. A Gardevoir's dress was made out of a special material, though not that strong, could be repaired and shaped by psychic energy. Gardevoir smiled as the rip was fixed and started to exit the pond. Once out she used psychic to lift the remaining water off her dress and body. Though she could was still cold from the water, this would dry her off quicker. She slipped her dress back on over her head and put her arms into the green sleeves. Gardevoir looked around to try to find somewhere to sleep.

"So it was a Gardevoir you found?" Abigail asked.

"Yes, a Psychic type like you said." Alex said having just finished dinner.

"Well wild Gardevoirs are a rare sight, I never seen one myself your very lucky Alex." Abigail said putting the dishes away

"Thanks Mom." Alex said

"But that doesn't mean I want you going into the forest looking for it." Abigail said with a stern look on her face.

"Y-yes Mom." Alex said rolling his eyes

"I mean it, now off to bed." She said "Goodnight son."

"Goodnight Mom." Alex said as he climbed the stairs

Alex entered his room and made his way to a bed. At the same time Gardevoir found some soft grass under a tree she could use as a bed. Both Gardevoir and Alex lay down. Alex was hoping he could see Gardevoir again and learn more about its species, unaware that Gardevoir wasn't far away. Gardevoir was thinking about what to do about the human child, maybe she should confront him? But she'll decide that tomorrow.

Both of them fell asleep, unaware that they were thinking of each other.


	3. catch me if you can

**I've added scene transitions which I didn't do in the previous chapters; they will be represented by / / /**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon**

**...**

Gardevoir awoke to the daylight. She sat up and stretched her arms, then looked around the area. The pond was sparkling from the sunlight; grassy areas surrounded it with a few trees, there were a few inclines with small hills around the area with Gardevoir on top of one with a tree were she slept.

Gardevoir tried to sense if anyone else was in the area, still to her surprise the only one there was herself. The only reason she could think of why such a beautiful area was deserted was because it was so close to a human settlement. Gardevoir then remembered why she herself was so close to a human settlement.

She looked in the direction that the Human child's home was. Gardevoir started to pace back and forth and think about what to do in for this situation. She never in her life thought she would be saved from a human, let alone a child. She couldn't just leave it; she would never stop thinking about it. Maybe if she thanked him?

"_Oh thanks for saving me, now bye, we will never see each other again." _ She phrased to herself in her thoughts.

That didn't seem right; she was taught better than that. Maybe give him a gift or a reward? But what do humans like? She had to do something. Maybe if she went to him it will just come to her.

Gardevoir stopped pacing and looked in the direction of the human's home. She figured that she might as well get it over with and started to head to the human's home.

After a few short moments Gardevoir reached her destination, but just like the last time she was there, she stood at the edge of the forest unable to move any closer. She was scared; what if there were traps, or maybe an ambush lying in wait.

She sensed around the area and just like last time, the only ones there were the two humans in the home and herself outside. Gardevoir continued to think about what to do, but was interrupted by her stomach growling.

She held her hands on her stomach, and realized how hungry she was. The last time she ate was when the human saved her, and even then she hadn't eaten since the beginning of that horrific day. She couldn't do this on an empty stomach. But she didn't know any part of this section of the forest; she had no idea where to find food.

Gardevoir's eyes darted to the berry trees not far to her right. She licked her lips as an unintentional reaction, and slowly started to move towards the trees.

**/ / /**

Alex was sitting at the table eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Having only woken up about an hour ago, he just got out of the shower so his hair was slightly wet.

Alex then remembered something from yesterday. "Mom, I think some of the berries are ready to be picked."

Abigail stopped eating her breakfast and said "Good, when you're done could you do that please?"

"Yes Mom." Alex said

Alex finished his cereal and move to the door. He put on his boots, jacket, picked up a basket and headed out the door.

**/ / /**

Gardevoir was in front of a sitrus berry tree, her eyes locked of the berry just above her. It looked ripe and very tasty. Her stomach growled again, but her eyes never left the berry. Gardevoir started to think about if she should take it.

Would it be wrong if she took it? It's not like humans owned trees, so it wouldn't be stealing. But it was on their territory and humans are the most territorial creatures that she has heard about. But would they really miss just one big, juicy delicious berry?

Gardevoir decided to take it. Her hand started to slowly rise above her. She stretched her three fingers out, and her hand move closer to the berry.

"HEY!" shouted a voice behind her.

Gardevoir's entire body froze. She was caught. She started to think that this was a mistake, how stupid she was. Why didn't she sense the area first? She was too scared to turn around and face who she assumed was a human.

Alex couldn't believe his eyes, right in front of one of the trees was the Pokémon he saved in the forest. Gardevoir was here. And it looked like she was picking a berry from a tree.

"_She must be hungry._" He thought to himself "Hello?" he shouted lower this time

Gardevoir slowly turn around to face the human. When she saw that it was the child that saved her, it only made her nervous. She came here to face him and now she was caught stealing from him. The situation felt almost identical, corned by a human against a tree, scared out of her mind. She then decided to do what she did before and placed her hands together.

Alex saw the familiar pose she was doing with her hands and started to run towards her

"WAIT!" he shouted

But it didn't help as a flash of light was made and Gardevoir was gone. Alex ran to the sitrus berry tree, hoping to catch a glimpse of Gardevoir anywhere. He found none.

Alex sighed, and was saddened by Gardevoir's sudden departure once again. He couldn't figure out why she was so scared of him. Alex decided to let it go for now and start to pick the berries. He started to pick the sitrus berries one by one and place them in the basket. After picking all the ripe sitrus berries he could find he moved to the next tree. As Alex continued to pick the berries he could have sworn he saw a white fabric of some sort move in the wind behind one of the trees a few rows away. Alex shrugged it off and continued his work.

A few moments passed as Alex continued to pick berries and he saw the white fabric again, only this time it continued to blow in the wind. Alex examined the fabric a little bit and saw it looked like it belonged to Gardevoir. Alex moved closer to the tree hoping it was Gardevoir.

Alex was right on the money as Gardevoir was right behind that very tree. She teleported close in hope to examine the human more. Or even at the very least still get one berry after he left. Gardevoir covered her mouth to hide her gasp as she sensed the human move closer to her. Maybe he was just moving in this direction by coincidence. Gardevoir sensed his emotions and sensed that he knew she was there. But how could he have known? Gardevoir looked down and noticed the bottom of her dress was being blown to the side by the wind, literally blowing her cover.

The human was getting closer, Gardevoir needed to make a decision fast. She could try teleporting again. No, she already teleported and has to wait before she can again. She needed more practice with teleporting to recharge it faster. Gardevoir was starting to sweat as the human got closer. Gardevoir then made a decision.

Run!

Alex approached the tree slowly, not wanting to scare Gardevoir again. Alex then saw a white and green blur zoom out from behind the tree to his right. Recognizing this as Gardevoir, Alex ran after her. Gardevoir was now more scared than ever, the human was chasing her. She lifted herself off the ground and began to levitate to move faster. She could easily outrun the human, but Arceus only knows what tricks he has up his sleeves, weapons, or even those dreaded round object. This was such a stupid idea was all she could think about. Why did she even think she could face a human? She saw the edge of the forest in the distance, if she could get there she'll be safe and never come here again.

Alex continued to chase Gardevoir but she was gaining distance. As they exited the berry garden Alex saw they were approaching the edge of the forest. Gardevoir was making a run for it, if she got there Alex will lose all hope of ever finding her, he may never see her again. He had to catch up somehow. But that plan was cut short as Alex tripped and fell to the ground, dropping the basket in the process. He groaned in pain and looked up to see Gardevoir was almost at the forest. He was about to lose her, all he wanted was to be her friend. Alex didn't want to lose anyone else in this world.

"PLEASE WAIT!" he pleaded

Gardevoir stopped in her tracks. Why did she stop, the forest was right there. But hearing the cry of the human emitted a wave of sadness that washed over her. She could feel this emotion like it was her own.

"_Why is the human sad?" _she thought

Gardevoir looked at the forest. The thought of escaping seemed wrong right now. Could this be a trap? No, these emotions were real. Being a Gardevoir she was inclined to feel emotions of those around her. Feeling nothing but sadness she started to feel sad herself, and a slight feeling of guilt. Gardevoir slowly turned to face her fear.

Alex looked to see Gardevoir turn to face him. There was about a 10 meters distance between them. She had a worried looked on her face.

'Please don't leave." Alex said, sobbing a little bit.

Gardevoir felt a bit of pity for the human, all those stories she heard of humans being cruel and merciless. And yet here's one now on the verge of crying.

Ever since Alex lost his father he sheltered himself out of despair, as such Alex didn't make many friends and always felt a little lonely. Alex was happy with the life he had now and moved past with what happened, but just seeing someone being taken away from him or even leaving him was always made Alex as sad as he could be. But now seeing that Gardevoir was now standing her ground, some hope returned to him.

Alex wiped a tear from his eye and stood up. He dusted the dirt from his jeans and looked at Gardevoir. The two continued to stare at each other. Alex didn't dare to move closer in fear that Gardevoir would flee, which was truth because Gardevoir was prepared to make a dash for the forest if he tried anything. Their eyes were locked at each other; each didn't know what to do next.

The wind picked up slightly causing Alex's hair and jacket to blow behind him in the wind. Gardevoir's dress was slightly caught in this draft to as her dress was lifted off the ground slightly, revealing the bottom of her legs. They didn't pay and mind to this though as the staring continued. A little thump was heard behind Alex, which caused him to look behind him. The cause of it was the basket that he dropped which was blown over in the wind; a few of the berries he picked had fallen out and were now on the grass.

Gardevoir also looked at the basket and noticed the berries; her eyes were then fixed on a sitrus berry she thought was maybe the same one she was going to pick. Gardevoir's stomach then let out a rather large growl. Alex heard this and looked at her awkwardly. Gardevoir put her hand on her stomach and blushed out of embarrassment.

Alex remembered that she was going to take a berry earlier; he then reached down and picked up a sitrus berry.

He held up the berry "Are you hungry?" he asked in the most calming tone to could muster.

Gardevoir looked at the berry and almost drooled from the sight of it, but she held it back. Her hunger was spiking at the sight of the delicious looking berry. She knew this could be a trap; maybe the berry was poisoned, or even stops her from moving. But she saw the human pick the berries from the tree so that was unlikely. Hesitantly Gardevoir moved her finger slightly and her eye's glowed a light blue.

Alex felt the sitrus berry shack slightly in his hand, he loosened his grip in it, and was slightly surprised to find it float in mid air. The Berry slowly moved closer to Gardevoir. Her eyes fixed on Alex with a scornful look, as if to tell him not to try anything. Alex stood still as the berry moved farther away from him. The berry soon reached Gardevoir's hand and she held it up to her face to examine it carefully. By the looks of it the berry seemed normal.

Gardevoir then looked at Alex who was still standing there. She then took at bite of out the berry. Gardevor's eyes widened as the sweet taste of the berry entered her mouth. It was possibly the best berry she ever had. She smiled gleefully as she swallowed the berry in her mouth. She quickly took another bite out of the berry and savoured. She closed her eyes and her face filled with joy.

Alex smiled as he watched Gardevoir happily eat the berry; a little surprised she likes it so much. Gardevoir took the last bite she chewed on it extra long to savour the taste even longer. Alex thought maybe to approach her now and took a few steps forward.

Gardevoir's senses picked up this. Her eyes widened as she quickly swallowed what was left of the berry and look at Alex making his advance. Her eyes lost the look of joy in them and filled with anger. Gardevoir held up her hand and prepared to launch a thunderbolt. Alex stopped in his tracks when he saw Gardevoir's hand start to surround with electricity. She didn't fire it but waved her hand in a way to tell him to back off. Alex could see that she was now very cautious of him, so he held his hands out to his sides in an attempt to show that he has nothing he could use against her. Gardevoir saw that besides the basket he had nothing on him, but that didn`t calm her down. He could still have something in those cloths on his legs that humans and some Pokémon wear. Pants she thinks they were called.

Alex saw this was not going well and decided to try something else. Alex bent down, set the basket nest to him, and sat on the ground. Gardevoir was now more confused than ever, was purpose was there in sitting down? Alex sat still on the ground not taking his eyes off Gardevoir, hoping she would get the message. Gardevoir lowered her hand and the electricity in it disappeared. She looked down at the human sitting about 5 meters away from her. What could he do by sitting? There was no way the human could use a ground type attack. Maybe it was a sign or a taunt of some sort? Gardevoir decided to match him and sit down as well.

Alex did not expect this. He was trying to tell her that he wasn't going to try anything, but now she is sitting down as well. She seemed to calm down a bit, but a bit of anger could still be seen in her eyes. A few moments passed of them staring at each other. This seemed to be a thing of them just staring at each other, but neither really noticed. Alex decided to make a bold move, but do it as carefully and calmly as he can. Alex got on his knees, causing Gardevoir to stir slightly, picked up the basket and started to crawl towards her. Gardevoir looked at Alex moving slowly towards her. Crawling towards someone? That's probably the oddest way she ever saw to approach someone.

Gardevoir couldn't help but giggle at this. Alex saw this and smiled as her crawled closer. She stopped her giggling but had to try harder to hide her smile. Gardevoir then sensed through his emotions. She mostly found curiosity and a slight bit of happiness. But no hostility. Gardevoir didn't believe this as she sensed him again, but found none. As Gardevoir continued to go through his emotions Alex had crawled up next to her. Alex looked at her and in response she looked away.

"My name is Alex." He said "you're a Gardevoir right?"

She nodded but mostly focused on the boy's, whose named she just learned, emotions. Again no hostility. She lost count of how many times she went through his emotions. Even going deeper in his mind than she thought she could. But found none, there wasn't a single hostile thought in Alex's mind towards her. Not even in self defense, if she attacked him he would do nothing to harm her.

"I know you're scared of me, even when I saved you in the forest, but I don't want to hurt you." Alex said calmly as he took another sitrus berry out of the basket and held it to her.

Gardevoir looked at the berry and slowly took it out of his hand. She smiled as she took a bite out of it and loved the taste of the berry just like the last one. Alex looked as she continued to eat the berry still a little surprised how much she likes it.

"I hope we can be friends." He said as Gardevoir finished the berry.

Gardevoir swallowed the last of the berry and looked at Alex. He was smiling at her. Gardevoir went through his emotions one more time, and found only happiness. Despite everything she heard about humans, everything she hated about them. This one saved her, and didn't want to harm her in any way. He just wanted to be friends. Even while being completely wrong about humans, Gardevoir couldn't help but smile.

Gardevoir gently pulled Alex into a hug, which he returned.

"[Thank you, for saving me.]" She whispered to him in her native tongue.

While Alex couldn't understand her, he could tell she said something nice. Another wave of emotion hit Gardevoir, only this time it was happiness that came from Alex. Gardevoir smiled as the emotion combined with her own and she too became happy. Minutes passed as they continued to sit there wrapped in each other's embrace.

"Well, what do we have here?" a voice came from beside them.

Gardevoir jumped slightly, but still holding on to Alex. Alex turned his head and smiled to see his Mom standing there.

"Looks like you've made a new friend." Abigail said with a sly look on her face.

Gardevoir tightened her grip slightly on Alex; she recognized this presence as the one with Alex earlier.

"Hi Mom." Alex said and smiled

"_Mom?" _Gardevoir thought to herself

Abigail leaned down, still with that sly look on her face.

"So, aren't so going to introduce me?" Abigail asked

"Oh, Mom this is Gardevoir, Gardevoir meet my Mom." Alex stood up and said, gesturing to both of them.

"Wow, she's so pretty." Abigail said causing Gardevoir to blush slightly at the complement.

"You can call me Abigail." She said holding out a hand.

Gardevoir saw Abigail reach a hand out to her, it seemed like she wanted her shake it. Gardevoir was a little puzzled at this; she didn't think humans knew the concept of shaking hands. But maybe it meant something different in their culture, in Gardevoir's it meant a sign of trust or a greeting. By the looks of it thought it seemed like a greeting.

Alex saw Gardevoir's hesitation. "It's okay Gardevoir, she won't hurt you."

Gardevoir took his word for it but went through her emotions anyways. Like Alex she found happiness and a bit a curiosity. But no hostility, just like Alex. Gardevoir wondered if Alex got this from his Mom.

"It's okay, I don't bite." Abigail said jokingly while still holding her hand up.

Gardevoir smiled at this, stood up and shook her hand. Abigail smiled and turned to her son.

"Now that's out of the way, why haven't you finished picking the berries yet Alex?" she said eyeing the basket.

Alex's eyes widened as he remembered his job" OH MY GOSH MOM IM SORRY JUST GARDEVOIR SHOWED UP SHE LOOKED HUNGRY AND I GAVE HER A BERRY AND JUST TIME PASSED SO FAST AND SHE LIKED IT AND..." Alex blurted out barley keeping track of his words.

"Whoa whoa whoa Alex calm down." Abigail said waving her hands up in front of her. "Relax I can finish it, you two go have fun."

'Really?" Alex asked and she nodded. "Thanks Mom."

Abigail picked up the basket and walked towards the trees, leaving Alex and Gardevoir alone.

"So, what now?" Alex asked turning to Gardevoir.

Gardevoir thought about it for a moment, and then had an idea. She grabbed Alex's arm and lightly pulled.

"(I want to show you something, follow me.)" She said knowing he couldn't understand but hoped he got the message.

"Okay, lead the way." Alex said getting the message.

Gardevoir smiled and led him into the forest.

**/ / /**

After only a few moments of walking, Gardevoir led Alex to the clearing with the pond where Gardevoir had slept the previous night.

Alex looked puzzled and said."I didn't know there was a spring so close to the house."

Gardevoir looked slightly confused when he said spring; she looked at the water and realized this area was a spring. She figured she call it that, it was easier than 'clearing with the pond'.

Gardevoir then rushed ahead of Alex, and began to skip around the area in front of him humming happily. Gardevoir wasn't sure why she was doing this, maybe Alex's happiness had really gotten to her, or maybe it was because it has been a while since Gardevoir had a friend.

Alex smiled at Gardevoir's mood and moved towards her, but Gardevoir moved quickly away from him.

"Hey!" Alex said moving closer to Gardevoir, which she quickly moved away again "Hey, wait up!"

Gardevoir giggled as she continued to move again and again out of Alex's reach, Alex then started to run at her and she did the same. This quickly turned into a game of chase with Alex trying to catch Gardevoir. Gardevoir was giggling at the irony that she was having fun with being chased by a human, normally she be scared out of her mind. But she trusted Alex enough to play with him. Gardevoir stooped running and started to levitate instead, turned around to face Alex and levitate backwards to face him while at the same time moving away.

Everyone minute or so Gardevoir would intentionally slow down to let Alex catch up. Alex would then jump at her in an attempt to grab her only for her to jump to the side. This repeated for a few minutes making Alex very tired.

Alex eventually stopped running. He put his hands on his knees, looked down and started to pant. Gardevoir moved over to Alex and levitated in circles around him in a taunting like motion.

"It's not fair." Alex said between breaths. "You don't have to use your legs."

Gardevoir giggled and stuck her tongue out at Alex. Alex saw this as an opportunity and lunged at Gardevoir... only to pass right through her and hit the ground. Alex groaned a bit from the impact and looked up to see a transparent Gardevoir sticking it's tongue out at him, and right next to it was a solid giggling Gardevoir. Alex smiled realising he fell for her Double team.

Gardevoir stopped giggling and snapped her fingers. The fake Gardevoir faded and the real one disappeared. In an instant six smiling Gardevoirs appeared to surround Alex in a circle. The Gardevoirs started to levitate around in circles around Alex. As Alex continued to stare, the Gardevoirs started to twirl around. The Gardevoirs closed their eyes and put their hands on their chest as they twirled slowly picking up speed. The Gardevoirs even stated to hum a tune. Alex watched in interest as the Gardevoirs put on a little show for him.

The Gardevoirs glided their hands from their chest above their bodies and over their heads. They started to lean back while putting their right leg forward. As they leaned back the Gardevoirs started to lower to the ground. Their left foot touch the ground and as they moved line was made in the grass following the movement of their feet. Alex looked around him to see a perfect circle be formed in the grass. The Gardevoirs leaned back father putting their bodies and right legs at a perfect 90 degree angle from their left legs. As they twirled their heads and feet seemed to be just at the extent of Alex's reach, but he didn't want to disrupt Gardevoir's performance. The Gardevoirs started to twirl faster and move around Alex faster, having one hand on their chests and the other pointed in the air.

Alex watched as the six Gardevoirs danced around him. He was amassed that she could pull off these moves flawlessly. The Gardevoirs then quickly started to lean back up until they were standing straight up again. They slowed their twirling and circle around Alex with their arms still on their chest and eyes closed. The twirling and circle came to a halt at the same time. The Gardevoir opened their eyes with a smile. Alex clapped his hands applauding the dance he just received.

Their smiles turned to a sly look and they put their left arms across their chest and over to their right arm. They held their right hands out and made a beckoning motion with their fingers. Alex smile faded as he realized that the game was still on, and Gardevoir has now lured him into a trap. She wants Alex to pick one and that`s the last chance he`ll get then it`s game over. The Gardevoirs smiles grew as she could see that Alex knew what was going on.

Alex took his time with this; he looked at all of at all of them to see if there were any differences in looks or movement. But he found none; he did expect this as he knew that Double team makes flawless copies. As he took another look at the Gardevoirs, he noticed one of their eyes felt different. Not looked different, felt different. Alex pretended not to notice and put his head down to look like he`s was thinking, which he actually was, but kept his eye on that Gardevoir`s eyes. The eyes themselves looked the same as the others; same shade of red, same size, no different than the others. But when Alex stared into them he felt something inside him. Almost like he could see a person inside the eyes.

Alex waited a moment then lunged as fast as he could at that Gardevoir. When he felt him collide with something else besides the ground he smiled. As soon as Alex tackled Gardevoir to the soft grass, the fake ones disappeared. Gardevoir lay on the in shock that he actually got her, she couldn`t figure out how he knew. She looked down to see Alex`s head laying on her belly, being thankful Alex was smaller than her otherwise he might have landed into her chest and either into her gem or breasts.

Alex smiled and looked up to her. "I got you." He said.

Gardevoir smiled back and put a finger on his forehead. "[You got lucky.]"She replied but didn't know if he really did or not.

**/ / /**

A few minutes later, Alex and Gardevoir went back to the house. They arrived to see Abigail had just finished picking the berries.

"So did you two have fun?" Abigail asked seeing them walk up to her.

"Yep." Alex said happily and nodded, Gardevoir on the other hand was focused on a sitrus berry sticking out of the basket.

Abigail noticed this and took it out. "Go on, take it." She said holding the berry out to her.

Gardevoir smiled and took the berry which she happily ate.

"Wow, she really likes those berries." Alex said watching her. "If you like Gardevoir you can pick your own berries from the trees when you want."

Gardevoir swallowed the last of the berry and looked at Alex, then looked at Abigail questionably which she gave a nodding approval. Gardevoir smiled at this, she was being offered friends, food and she could just stay at the spring which was very close. She hasn't been this happy in a long time.

Gardevoir picked Alex up with her psychic and quickly pulled him into a big hug.

"(Thank you, thank you thank you thank you.)" She said multiple times in her native tongue.

Alex was taken by surprise by her hug. He tried to hug her back but his arms where held in place by hers.

"Awww that's so sweet, she really likes you Alex." Abigail said with that sly look returning to her face. "Now don't overdo it with picking the berries, we can only spare so much."

Gardevoir nodded at this and continued to hug Alex. While hugging him a thought crossed her mind.

"_Maybe humans aren't so bad after all."_


	4. Old and New habits

**In this chapter there will be a time skip, and staring in the next chapter (for about 3 chapters, but that could change) there will be big ones, I'm talking months to years' time skips.**

**Because you guys don't want to see every day that Gardevoir and Alex spend together, that would get boring (unless you REALLY want to) so in a few more chapters, they will leave Beacon town and the prologue will be over. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon **

**...**

Gardevoir's eyes opened once again to the daylight. She looked to the now familiar sight of the spring. She stretched her arms forward, and moved her neck around. She then got up to stretch her legs but as she stood her body felt different.

She felt like she had more energy than normal, her entire body was warm especially between her legs, an intoxicating smell was emitting from her, and she was very aroused. Gardevoir recognized these feelings all too well.

"(I'm in heat.)" She said to herself in disappointment.

Gardevoir sensed the area to make sure there was no one, especially any males, around. Not surprising her anymore, there was no one else around. But if she wasn't quick that wouldn't stay for very long, a male would eventually get her scent. And that was the last thing she wanted, despite what her hormones were saying. Gardevoir sat down and spread her legs.

She lifted her dress to look down between her legs at her vagina. She could see that it was somewhat swollen, and dripping slightly. She sighed knowing what she must do. She moved her hand in between her legs and traced one of her three fingers over her entrance. She lifted her head to look away and closed her eyes, not wanting to see herself do this.

She rubbed her silt with her finger, slowly pushing it open. She could feel her damp insides and inserted her finger into her. This caused her to moan slightly. She moved her finger slowly inside her and felt herself get wetter. She started to twist her fingers around in circles hoping to speed up the process. This seemed to work as she felt more pleasure, but it was forced pleasure.

Gardevoir always felt little to no pleasure in doing this, and she didn't like any of the forced pleasure she was given. She moved her finger out of her to the tip of it, causing her to make a forced moan again. She slides it back in and continued to move her finger in and out at a slow pace.

She could feel her body start to tense up and her insides get tighter around her finger. She knew she was close and started to quicken her pace. A slight _whap _noise was made as her hand hit her pussy. Her insides tensed up more and her orgasm hit. She let out a little yelp as fluids were realised from her and covered her hand.

Gardevoir panted slightly and took he finger out of her silt. She looked at her hand to see her juices drip down her fingers. She gave a disgusting look at her hand, she always hated doing this but it was the only way she could get past it without finding a mate. If she could trick her body that she mated at least once, then she won't feel any of the pain that would come. She wouldn't emit the scent anymore but some of it was still on her. She turned her head to the spring. She felt dirty from doing this act and decided to wash herself and get rid of any remaining scent at the same time.

Gardevoir sensed the area one more time, then stripped her dress off of her and walked into the spring.

**/ / /**

Alex had just gotten up and was dressed and ready for the new day. He was sitting on his usual chair reading the book he found information about Gardevoir in. He was eager to learn as much about her species as he could.

"Reading that book again eh?" Abigail asked walking in the room.

Alex looked up to his Mom and smiled. "Ya I'm looking to learn everything about her species that I can." Alex pointed towards a paragraph in the book that he read earlier "It says here that Gardevoirs are known for sensing emotions and that they are drawn to positive emotions and if it's strong enough they will feel it themselves."

"Well no wonder she likes being around you so much Alex." Abigail said "She likes your positive energy."

Alex got up and nudged Abigail's arm slightly "Come on Mom, it's more than that."

Abigail gave a little chuckle "I know Alex, I think you two will be great friends."

Alex smiled and headed towards the door to put on his jacket. "Thanks, I'm going to go and see if she wants to play." Alex said.

"Okay have fun." Abigail said as he headed out the door.

Abigail picked up the book her son was looking at, and flipped to the pages about Gardevoir. She looked at the pictures and read a bit. She noticed a section talking about how Gardevoirs form strong bonds with their trainers. She smiled as a picture of Alex as her trainer went through her head.

"... maybe you'll be more friends." Abigail said to herself.

**/ / /**

Gardevoir was still in the spring and had finished washing between her legs. She felt less dirty now but still didn't like what she did. Her heat would last a few more days, but the scent would be gone and the pain would not come. She would still feel the need to mate but Gardevoir learned to tough it out over the years.

Gardevoir thought about finding a mate, her kind would have usually found now by now. But she didn't seem interested in anyone she met, most just wanted a mate for the sake of having a mate. Most Pokémon even mate just for the point of reproduction, some even leave after that.

But for Gardevoirs, mates were for life and treasured. Gardevoir wanted someone to love and to love her back. But at the moment she didn't care much.

She looked at her leg to see that the wound was now completely gone. She then examined her shoulder to look at the more serious wound. The front of her shoulder was fine and left no marks, but as she looked over her back shoulder she didn't like what she saw. Most of her skin was healed but what was left were two big black teeth marks. That was definitely going to leave a scar.

Gardevoir didn't like that; she hoped it wouldn't make her less attractive. Scars are more welcomed for males to show signs of battle and strength. But she shrugged it off.

Gardevoir then continued to wash herself

**/ / /**

Alex had arrived at the spring. He looked around but couldn't see Gardevoir in his sight. He moved down the hill towards the water thinking he should circle around it to look. He came up to a tree with some tall weeds to his right, weeds that were taller than him. Still no sign of Gardevoir.

Alex looked on the ground next to the tree and saw what looked like some clothes. Upon further inspection Alex saw that it was Gardevoir's dress.

Alex started to panic, wandering why only this part of Gardevoir here? Did something happen to her?

Alex then heard a little slash in the water. It came from the other side of the weeds. Alex curiously moved the weeds out of the way expecting to see a water Pokémon, and he hoped a clue to where Gardevoir was. When he emerged from the weeds to the other side he saw the back of a figure a few feet away from him. From the green hair he could tell it was Gardevoir, and she appeared to be washing herself. Feeling relieved he was about to call to her.

But as he looked down her body to where the water stopped at her waist he could see that her whole body, save for the red gem and a scar on her back, was a pale white colour. He looked back at the dress then back at her, and realised that Gardevoir simply took it off. Alex didn't know that she could do this; in fact he didn't think any Pokémon wore clothes.

It then hit Alex that Gardevoir was naked and washing herself right in front of him. And his mother always told him to respect a girl's privacy. He then slowly started to back up hoping not to alert her. Alex's entire body froze when he stepped on a twig which made a really loud snap.

Gardevoir's head jerked up and turned her head to look behind her, without turning her body, to see what made that sound. To her surprise she saw Alex standing in between some weeds. She smiled and was happy to see him. She started to turn to body to face him.

However this feeling only lasted for about half a second and Gardevoir stopped turning. She looked down her body and remembered she was naked, and part of her right breast was shown to Alex from the side.

Gardevoir screamed, covered herself with her arms and turned away from Alex. Heavily blushing out of embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Alex apologised

Gardevoir dove into the water leaving only her head out.

"(Go away!)" She shouted at him.

Alex could tell she was angry and ran back to the house.

**/ / /**

Alex entered the house feeling ashamed of himself. He didn't mean to see Gardevoir without her clothes. He hoped she wouldn't stay mad at him.

Abigail saw Alex come in.

"You're back early." She then noticed the sad look on his face "What's wrong?"

Alex sighed "Mom did you know that Gardevoir could take her dress off?"

Abigail gave a slight disapproval look "What'd you do Alex?"

"Well it's just..." Alex said nervously "I went to the spring to see her and I saw her washing herself... and she was naked."

Abigail's frown turned to a slight smile "Geez Alex ever heard of knocking?"

"Well what was I suppose to knock on, the tree?" Alex retaliated back while Abigail was chuckling.

Alex walked over to the book he was reading earlier and flipped to the pages about Gardevoir. He turned to the next page and once he saw it, he face palmed.

"And of course the very next page after the one I stopped reading was the one that tells about their dresses." Alex groaned.

"Well you can worry about that later; you have something to do Alex." Abigail said.

"What?" Alex asked.

"You need to get out there and apologise to Gardevoir." Abigail said pointing at the door.

"But I..." "No buts." She interrupted. She grabbed his collar and started pulling him towards the door.

"Gardevoir probably feels really embarrassed that you saw her like that." Abigail said as she practically threw Alex out the door. "Now go make up with her before she thinks you're a perv."

"But Mom..." Alex couldn't finish his sentence as she closed the door.

Alex knew that his Mom wouldn't let him back in and started to walk towards the spring. He didn't know what she meant by "perv" but figured it had something to do with what he did. It wasn't like he did it on purpose, and he did try apologising. But Gardevoir was mad at him, hopefully she would forgive him. He started to worry what would happen if Gardevoir didn't forgive him. Would she not be his friend anymore, would she avoid him, or worse would she leave? Alex tried not to think about it and continued to the spring.

**/ / /**

Gardevoir couldn't believe what just happened as she was putting her dress back on. She just caught a peeping Tom, and it was Alex of all people. She wondered how long was he standing there. She wondered if he saw her masturbate, no she sensed the area before she did it and before she went into the spring.

She didn't want to think what would happen if Alex had caught her in that act, she'd probably die of embarrassment.

Why would Alex spy on her, why he really that kind of person? Gardevoir really wanted to punish Alex but she didn't want to hurt him.

Gardevoir then remembered the look on Alex's face when she spotted him, and he did shout sorry before he ran off. Maybe it was all an accident? But she had to be sure, somehow. And thinking about it now all he saw was her back and the side of her breast.

Gardevoir then heard some rustling in the bushes; she turned around to see Alex come out of them.

Alex brushed off some leaves of his jacket and looked up to see Gardevoir standing right there. He walked forward with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey." He said while looking down slightly.

The two just stared at each other awkwardly. Not knowing what to say, even though Alex wouldn't understand Gardevoir anyways.

Gardevoir went through Alex's emotions, and found several emotions. Nervousness and ashamed were the two biggest ones. It was Alex who broke the silence.

"Listen I'm really sorry for what I did, I didn't think you were washing yourself." Alex said.

Gardevoir looked slightly surprised; this confirmed that Alex did do it by accident. Just a harmless mistake. But Gardevoir still wanted to punish Alex for it. She held back a smile as an idea formed in her head.

Gardevoir crossed her arms, close her eyes, made a "hmph" sound and turned around. Alex was stunned at this, Gardevoir was rejecting him.

"Look it was an accident, I'll never do it again I promise." Alex pleaded.

Gardevoir didn't budge. This is what Alex feared would happen, and Gardevoir knew it.

"Gardevoir I'm... I'm really sorry, there is nothing more I can say or make it up to you." Alex said sadly and looked down.

Like before the wave of Alex's sadness swept over Gardevoir, she figured this was enough. She didn't want Alex to start crying again.

Alex felt himself lifted up by an unknown force. He looked over to Gardevoir who was waving her finger, at the same time he was slowly pulled closer to her.

As Gardevoir pulled Alex to her she slowly turned around to show the small smile on her face to him. Gardevoir opened her arms as Alex was brought into them. She wrapped them around Alex into a warm hug.

"(I forgive you.)" She said while slightly nuzzling Alex's cheek.

A warm feeling spread through Alex`s body, he figured it must have something to do with Gardevoir`s emotions that he read about. He closed his eyes and relaxed into Gardevoir`s embrace.

**/ / /**

**(1 week later)**

Gardevoir and Alex were once again chasing each other at the spring, or more like Alex was trying to catch up to Gardevoir.

Like before Gardevoir would slow down for Alex to catch up, only this time she was using her Double Team to try to trick Alex. But like before Alex would always jump for the right one. Gardevoir would always dodge him because she was ready this time. But she would keep doing it hoping to figure out how he could tell which one was her. So far she had no luck.

After a while Alex was showing signs of exhaustion. Eventually he came to a stop to catch his breath. Gardevoir stopped and levitated over to him.

"Just... give me... a minute." Alex said in between breaths.

Gardevoir giggled a bit. She then felt a drop land on her head; she looked up to see the clouds getting dark around them. Alex then felt a drop on his nose and he looked up to see the clouds too. A few more drops landed on them, and then it started pouring rain on them.

Alex and Gardevoir were getting soaked fast, they tried to cover their heads with their hands but it was no use.

Gardevoir got an idea to keep her dry; she held an arm up formed a small half barrier above her. The rain hit the barrier and dripped off the side of it. Alex looked at Gardevoir's psychic umbrella; he could make out the outline of the barrier from the water hitting it. Gardevoir looked down to see Alex still getting wet; she motioned for him to come closer which Alex quickly obliged to.

Alex looked from under the barrier. Seeing the rain pour down on them and move away from them seemed almost entrancing. Almost like the world was moving around them. This was interrupted by Gardevoir sneezing from the cold of the rain. Alex was cold too from being wet, to help Gardevoir he hugged her to share his warmth. Gardevoir saw what he was doing and put her free hand on his head to return the favour.

Alex looked at the dark clouds to see they stretched across the sky father than he could see. The rain would probably go through the night.

"We should probably get to some shelter." Alex said.

Gardevoir nodded at this, then a thought crossed her head. She looked around the spring. To her disappointment there was nothing that could shelter her from the rain and the trees provided little to no protection from the rain.

Alex noticed Gardevoir's look and saw to that she had no shelter. Alex felt sad that Gardevoir had nowhere to stay for tonight, then he smiled as he got an idea.

"Gardevoir?" He asked and she turned her head to him. "Would you like to stay at my place?"

Gardevoir looked at Alex, surprised by his offer. She knew Alex was kind and generous but this was something she never expected.

Gardevoir nodded, not knowing what else to say. Alex smiled and took her hand.

"Come on; let's get going before we get wetter." Alex said while leading Gardevoir to his house.

**/ / /**

The door to Alex's house opened; despite the barrier they were still wet from the rain. Water dripped onto the entrance mat.

"Okay let me just find my Mom and..." Alex was cut off as a towel was thrown into his face.

Gardevoir gasped at this and looked in the direction it was thrown to see Abigail standing there.

"Don't you step on my floor until you're dry." Abigail said walking in the room.

"I know Mom." Alex said while wiping the towel through his hair.

Abigail then approached Gardevoir.

"I had a feeling you'd show up too." She said while handing her a towel.

Gardevoir took the towel in her hand, having no idea what it was. Felling the soft and light fabric in her hand, she thought it was a cloth of some sort of cloth. Abigail saw the confused look on her face.

"It's a towel; you use it to dry yourself." Abigail said.

Gardevoir now looked more confused. How was this little thing meant to dry you? She looked over to Alex and saw him wiping the towel around his body. Gardevoir figured it was okay and put the towel on her arm and rubbed it.

The soft fabric felt nice on her arm, and once she pulled away she was surprised at the result. Her arm was completely dry now. Abigail couldn't help but laugh at Gardevoir expression.

"I take it you don't have anything like that in the wild." Abigail said then turned her head to Alex who had finished drying off.

"Is it alright is Gardevoir stays the night Mom? She doesn't have any shelter outside." Alex asked her.

"Of course it alright. She can stay as long as she wants." Abigail said. "Now it's almost time for bed, go and get changed."

"Alright Mom." Alex said then went upstairs.

Abigail then turned to Gardevoir and looked her over, who was still using the towel.

"I don't suppose you have another dress somewhere do you?" Abigail asked her.

Gardevoir simply shook her head.

"Alright then come with me, your taking a shower." Abigail said as she took her hand and pulled her upstairs.

**/ / /**

Abigail and Gardevoir stood in the bathroom. Gardevoir looked around the white room, wondering what it was for and what all the things in it do. And she certainly had no idea what a shower was.

"I take it you know how to clean yourself, but I have a felling you don't know what this is." Abigail held up a bar of soap.

Gardevoir shook her head again, just getting more confused.

"This is soap, you rub it on you while you're washing yourself and it helps clean you." Abigail said.

Gardevoir seemed to understand, but there was no source of water in here. How was she going to wash herself?

Abigail then opened the shower curtains, leaned in and put her hands on the knobs.

"Alright the one on the right is for cold the one on the left is for hot, you turn them right to turn them on." Abigail turned them. Water poured through the shower head, Gardevoir gasped at this as she did not expect it. "And you turn them left to turn them off." She turned them again and the water stopped.

Abigail leaned back out, her hair slightly wet from the water vapour.

"Okay, towels are over there." She said as she pointed to them. "Now give me your dress and you can hop in."

Gardevoir just looked blankly at Abigail, seeing as she just asked her to stip.

"Oh I'm sorry." Abigail then turned around and held out one of her arms to her side. "Don't worry I won't peek."

Gardevoir knew Abigail meant well, but she was nervous to use this thing she called a shower. But she was right she needed to be cleaned. Gardevoir slowly slipped her dress over her head and placed in Abigail's hand. She then stepped in the shower.

"Pull the curtain dear." Abigail said.

Gardevoir didn't know what a curtain was, but Abigail pulled the hanging fabric before. Gardevoir assumed this was the curtain and pulled it to close her in the shower. Once Abigail heard the curtain close see turned around to see a silhouette of Gardevoir through the curtain. She starred a bit, finding it interesting that her body wasn't much different from hers.

"Okay now turn on the water." She said.

Gardevoir looked down at the knobs, a little nervous at what would happen next. Abigail said the left one was for hot water and Gardevoir wanted the water to be warm so...

"(GGAAAHHHHH!)" Was all Abigail heard through the shower as hot water poured down Gardevoir's body.

Gardevoir quickly turned the knob again and turned the right one. The scorching hot water was replaced with freezing cold water. Gardevoir turned the knob again, putting a stop to the water. Gardevoir stood there soaked in cold water, panting at this frightening experience. She then heard a giggle, followed by more giggling. Abigail couldn't hold it in anymore as she burst out laughing.

"Oh my Arceus, did... did you really just turn one knob all the way?" Abigail said as she continued to laugh, earning a groan from Gardevoir.

"Try... hehe... try turning them both." She said between laughs.

Gardevoir sighed and decided to give it one more try. She tensed up, and turned both the knobs equally.

Gardevoir's nervousness was immediately replaced with surprised, then relaxation as the warm water poured down her tall frail body. The warm water felt nice on her body as it rained down on her, much better than the spring water. She enjoyed it as much as a water type would enjoy the rain.

"I'm going to put your dress in the washer and dryer okay." Abigail said heading out of the bathroom.

Gardevoir didn't know what a washer and dryer were, but it they did anything with what they sounded like then it should be okay. Gardevoir then looked to the side to see the bar of soap, and remembered Abigail said it would help clean her. She griped it in her hand, only for it to slip out. Before it hit the floor she grabbed with her Psychic and floated it back up to her. She put it lightly in her hand this time and examined it. Abigail didn't say what she was supposed to do with it. Maybe it was something like the towel?

Gardevoir rubbed the soap in her arm. It felt a little weird; she removed it to notice it left a white substance. It was hard to see it because of her pale skin but it was there. Gardevoir didn't know what it was suppose to do but she wanted it off her. She put her arm in the pouring water of the shower hoping to wash it off. To her surprised it came off from the water rather easily. She examined her arm and noticed it looked much cleaner than before. Her pale skin almost shined in the light. She looked at the soap amazed at how it could do this.

Gardevoir then started to rub the soap all over her body, using her Psychic for places she could reach.

**/ / /**

**(10 minutes later)**

Gardevoir stepped out of the shower, feeling much cleaner than had been in a long time. As she dried herself off with a towel, she looked to the side to see another naked Gardevoir standing there. She let out a gasp and covered herself with the towel as the other Gardevoir did the same.

"(I'm sorry I thought...)" She stopped as the other Gardevoir mover her mouth too, and stopped with her.

Gardevoir cocked her head to the side and other one did the same. Gardevoir waved her hand and like before she copied her. Gardevoir approached the other Gardevoir and it looked to do the same. She stuck her finger out and went to poke the other Gardevoir who also went to poke her. When their fingers hit though Gardevoir didn't feel skin, she felt a hard surface that seemed to have vibrated slightly around the other Gardevoir. Gardevoir then realized what this was. It was like looking at her reflection in the water but there was no water, but it was still her reflection. She examined the solid surface that her reflection was confined in; it seemed like a rectangular shape that stretched from the floor the ceiling.

Gardevoir took this time to examine herself. She certainly did look cleaner, and her body seem to shine. The soap did wonders to her skin. She turned around to examine her scar; unfortunately it did not seem to make a difference. But she didn't worry; she doubted anyone would be looking at that part of her body anyways. Gardevoir wasn't one to brag about her looks, but she just couldn't help at how beautiful she looked right now.

Gardevoir flexed her thighs for her refection; she put her hand to the back of her head and put a seductive look on. Gardevoir smiled as she posed for her reflection. She loved the look but would have to not do it around any males she didn't want for a mate. Gardevoir then turned around, crossed her arms to cover her breasts and leaned forward, exposing her cleavage. She kept the look on her face as if asking someone to...

A rather loud knock on the door almost knocked Gardevoir off her balance.

"Hey it's me." Abigail said form the other side of the door. "Your dress is ready."

The door opened slightly and Abigail reached her hand in with Gardevoir's dress. Gardevoir quickly took it. And put it on.

Once the dress was on she noticed how different it felt, but in a good way. It felt warm and softer than normal, cleaner too. Gardevoir looked at her reflection. Like her skin the dress seemed to shine in the light. It was perfect.

Gardevoir started to twirl around, expressing her joy.

"Well someone's happy." Gardevoir stopped twirling to see Abigail standing in the door way.

"I'm glad you... "Abigail was cut off by Gardevoir hugging her.

This caught Abigail off guard, and she was blushing slightly form Gardevoir's breasts squished into hers. But Gardevoir didn't notice.

"(I love it, thank you.)" Gardevoir said and stared to nuzzle her cheek.

"Alright alright, you're welcome." Abigail said while patting her back. "Now come on time to go to sleep." She said while pushing Gardevoir off her.

Gardevoir nodded and followed Abigail out of the bathroom.

**/ / /**

"You wouldn't mind sharing a bed with my son right?" Abigail suddenly asked as they approach Alex's room.

Gardevoir had no idea what a bed was, but nodded anyways.

"Good because we only have two beds and things might get a little... odd, if we shared one." Gardevoir gave a questioning look, not understanding.

Abigail didn't answer it and opened the door to Alex's room. The room was fairly small, fitting a double-bed next to a dresser on one side, with a desk and chair and the other side. The walls had a few posters of oceans, mountains and forests. On the ceiling was a map of the Sinnoh region.

Alex, who was sitting on the bed, got up.

"Hey Mom, hey Gardevoir." Alex said as he got up.

"Hey Alex, do you mind if Gardevoir sleeps in your room tonight?" Abigail asked him.

"Sure that be great, it'll be just like a sleepover." Alex said and hugged Gardevoir, which she returned.

"Just so you know, that's the bed." Abigail whispered into Gardevoir's ear and pointed to the bed. "You sleep in it."

Gardevoir looked at the bed while Alex hugged her. She wondered if it does anything.

"Okay Alex, come here and give your Mother a hug to say goodnight." Abigail said.

While Alex hugged his Mom, Gardevoir went to examine the bed. It looked like a hard surface wrapped in some sort of cloth. And she was supposed to sleep on it? To test it, Gardevoir poked the top of the bed. To her surprise though her finger sank into it, it was soft. Gardevoir sat down onto the bed and felt very comfortable just sitting on it. She had never been on something this soft before and it was much better than the grass she usually sleeps on. Gardevoir lay down on the bed and her head landed on something even softer. She turned around to look at it and noticed it wasn't attached to the bed. She picked it up felt the very light and soft material in her hand. She liked the feeling of resting her head on it and put it back where it was.

"_Humans sure know how to live in comfort." _She thought to herself.

"Well she seems to like it." Alex said as he walked over to the bed.

Alex lay down on the bed and pulled the blankets over him. Gardevoir noticed this too and decided to the same. The soft warmth of the blanket surprised her, as did a lot of things today, and she didn't think she ever felt more comfortable in her life.

"Goodnight Mom, Goodnight Gardevoir." Alex said to them.

Gardevoir smiled and nodded in return, and Alex turned over and closed his eyes. A sudden realization then hit Gardevoir.

"_Wait, I'm supposed to sleep here and I'm sharing the bed with Alex." _She thought _"So I'm sleeping next to him."_

Abigail noticed the look on Gardevoir's face and flicked off the light.

"Goodnight." She said while closing the door.

Gardevoir lay there next to Alex, who was already falling asleep. Just couldn't help but feel awkward about this. But Alex was probably the most trusted friend she had right now, and figured it was okay.

Gardevoir rested her head down, and closed her eyes to let sleep take her.

**...**

**Sorry this took so long, been busy.**


	5. As time flies by

**So remember all those time skips I mentioned, I decided to combine it all into one chapter**

**ENJOY!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon**

**...**

**2 weeks later**

**(Gardevoir's P.O.V)**

I watched as Alex once again left his house, waving bye to Abigail, and walked further into the human settlement. I noticed him doing this a while ago. He would leave the house for a while, at first I thought he was leaving for good because he was gone so long but late in the day he returns. There seemed to be a pattern to this too, for 5 days in a row he would do this, stop for 2 days, then leave again and repeat. Abigail clearly knew where he was going and she wasn't worried so he wasn't in any danger. This appeared to be something he has done for a while, I wanted to know what but it's not like I could directly ask him about it. I wanted to see where he was going all this time but I was too scared to go closer to humans I didn't know.

But not today, today I am going to follow him. I took a deep breath and levitated as silently as I could to follow Alex.

As I got closer to more of the houses my senses picked up on the other humans that were around, there were about 20 of them just in this small section but I could easily tell which one was Alex.

I stayed behind Alex but kept out of his sight. I don't like being sneaky around Alex but I don't want to draw attention. I noticed a few humans start to walk past Alex. I darted behind a house for cover. I moved back around the house hugging its wall as I moved to its edge. I could sense more humans around Alex. It was too big of a risk to be in the open now; I looked at another house not far away. Abigail told me about that houses are a type of building that humans live in. I didn't need to see Alex to know where he was going, and as long as I stayed behind these houses and out of sight I should be fine. I put my hands together and teleported to the next house.

I appeared to the next house and Alex was just on the other side of it. Two other humans appeared to be walking with him now and talking to him. I couldn't tell what they were saying but at the moment I didn't care. Alex was getting farther ahead so I teleported to the next house.

While playing chase with Alex every day I improved my teleportation so now I could use it multiple times as long as it was short distance. Alex appeared to be getting faster and having greater endurance too, almost like we were training each other.

**/ / /**

I kept following Alex and teleporting when needed, until he stopped at this big building. There was a wide open area and some kind of metal railing appeared to surround most of it. I poked my head out of my hiding place by a house close by to see Alex. He entered the area and began talking to more human children. In fact the place seemed to be full of human children.

Suddenly a big yellow blur passed by me, I panicked and dove behind the house. Why didn't I sense that thing coming? I tried sensing it again but instead once one thing; I picked up on multiple humans where that thing was suppose to be. After a few seconds I poked my head out to see it. It stopped moving, and I sensed there where humans where inside that thing, then they started moving. One by one the children got out of the big yellow thing, until there was only one left. What kind of a place was this? Why do children gather here? What is that big yellow thing that carries them?

I then heard a high pitched sound that made me jump slightly. I looked to the side to see what it was. A female human adult which was wearing a strange blue outfit and had light blue hair to match it. Next to her was an Arcanine who was sitting but still slightly taller than her. Behind all them were more human children.

"Alright kids you can cross the road now." She said and pointed forward.

The children started to cross the black surface ahead of them of what I assume was the road. One child even stopped and petted the Arcanine which he gave a happy growl in response. The children then also entered the area around the building. I just couldn't figure out why they were all just standing out there. Where they waiting for something?

My question was answered as a loud sound was heard that seemed to come from the building. The children heard it too and they all started, including Alex, to head inside the building. It took about a minute until the area around the building was deserted, what just happened? One minute they were all standing out there talking to each other, and the next minute they all just went inside the building because it made a sound. Was it like a command or something? And why was Alex obeying it?

I quickly teleported over to the big building, I could sense all of the children in the building including Alex. I could see some see through pieces built in the walls. I remember Alex's house had these too and it seemed to be made out of the same material that I saw my reflection in a few weeks ago, which Abigail later explained to me it was called a mirror. But I could see through this one, I would have to remember to find out what these are later. As I peeked through it I could see children walking down a big corridor. I quickly ducked down so I wouldn't be seen. I could sense Alex moving through the building. I moved along the wall in an attempt to follow him, but I couldn't seem to keep up. Eventually Alex stopped and I got as close as I can. I spotted one of those see through mirrors not far away from me. I looked through it and I could see Alex. He was in a room filled with children, and they were all sitting in a bunch of wooden chairs. I've seen these 'chairs' around Alex's house before but in front of them was a big hollow piece of wood supported by some metal. At the front of the room was a human male adult who seemed to be speaking to the children. I couldn't hear him but based on his hand movement I think he was trying to describe something to them. He then started to write something on the black part of the wall in a language I didn't recognize, I guess humans used a different type of writing too.

I went through Alex's emotions to see what he thought of this; to my surprise he was bored. He was barley awake but his face showed no signs of drowsiness, I'm not sure if he was trying to hide it or not. Either way if Alex was bored then why was he here? What was the purpose of this place, especially if Alex wasn't enjoying himself? Was he being forced to come here?

I didn't know what else to do so I continued to watch hoping to understand this.

**/ / /**

I don't know how long I've been here. Alex was just sitting there seemly listening to the adult talk. Sometimes he would take out a book and write some things in it. I also noticed he wasn't the only one in there who was bored. Multiple kids where feeling the same thing. Sometimes a kid would raise their hand and speak to the adult, as if they were answering something. I was starting to see why Alex was so bored, I've almost dosed off a few times. Yet here I was sitting here watching a human, just like Alex only he's unaware I'm watching him. It's a little ironic.

A loud sound made me jump, the same sound that came from the building before. Alex and the other children got up from their seats and left the room. I went to follow him but I heard a door open. Some kids ran out. I panicked and teleported behind the wall of the building to avoid them. I then heard another door open on this side too. I was starting to get nervous; I looked around for anywhere to hide.

I noticed in the area was a small patch of bushes and a few trees, I quickly teleported into the bushes and took cover.

A few minutes passed as I watched the children emerge out of the building like before. Some were talking, or playing games. I could sense Alex with a few humans; I wasn't sure what he was doing though. But whatever it was he wasn't bored anymore. So is the inside of the building boring but the outside is meant for fun? I didn't understand the point of this place, and I couldn't figure anything out from here.

I them heard some rustling in the bushes; I froze as images of that day I fought the pack in the forest flooded my head. I looked behind me to see a small round red object roll out of the bush. For a second I thought it was a Voltorb but it was completely red.

"I got it guys." I heard a voice from outside the bushes.

My body was frozen in my. Please Arceus don't let have the source of that voice come here.

And of course it does as the bush rustles again. And a male human child came out of the bush and picked up the red object. He then noticed me. He stood up still holding the red ball. Wait... red round object? Oh Arceus no, please don't let that be one of those balls humans capture Pokémon with.

The boy kept looking at me with a curious look in his face.

"HEY JIMMY! WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG?" another voice shouted from outside the bush.

"There's a Pokémon in here." He looked away and said back to them.

"Really? Let's see." The same voice said again.

Oh no more were coming. I had to think fast. I noticed a small building a few feet over and teleported to it quickly. I appeared beside the building and took cover by its wall. I could hear the children talk to each other.

"Well Jimmy, where's the Pokémon?" one of the boys said.

"I don't know, it was here then it was gone." The boy named Jimmy said.

"Yeah sure, I bet it was legendary too." The boy said sarcastically.

The boys continued to argue whether or not I was there. I felt I little bad that Jimmy was being made out to be a liar, but I needed to hide.

"Hello." A little voice came from behind me.

I turned and look; it was a little human girl. This kid had to be about half of Alex's age.

"Are you a Pokémon?" she asked

Before I could even answer she moved closer and reached out to touch me. Even if it was a little girl I was just so scared of humans. I quickly darted backwards away from her.

That was a **big **mistake.

I was now out in the open, in a just a second the children's eyes were on me. I looked around and nearly every child I could see was now paying attention to me.

"THERE IT IS." I heard a voice shout. I turned and saw it was the boy named Jimmy. "THERE'S THE POKEMON I SAW."

"POKEMON!?" almost all of the children shouted in unison.

They all started screaming and ran towards me. I have never been so scared in life. My heart was beating loud and time seemed to slow. I needed to get out of here. I put my hands together and used any power I had left to teleport as far away as I could, anywhere was better than here. I felt my body lift and vanished. But as I reappeared and didn't feel right, almost like...

"THERE IT IS!" I turned around to see all the children not far away. I only teleported across the area.

"Shit shit shit!" I said as started to run.

No wonder I didn't feel right, I used most of my power to make quick teleport jumps across this human settlement. That last teleport ate the rest of my energy for it, now I couldn't teleport for a while.

I was faster than the kids but they were swarming me. Some appeared from the other sides of the building as I ran around desperate to find a way out. But everywhere I looked that metal railing blocked my exit. I kept running as fast as I could, hoping this nightmare would end.

"Gardevoir?" I heard another voice.

This voice however was soothing and familiar, I drowned it out from the screams of the children just to hear it echo in my head. I looked to the source to see my saviour. Alex was standing there, two other humans where next to him but I didn't care, I could only see Alex in my sight. I dashed towards him as fast as I could. I latched on to Alex in a hug which caused him to lose his balance and fall to the ground, he landed on the grass which somewhat cushioned the fall. I don't think I was happier to see Alex in my life. He could help me, just like he did in the forest.

"Gardevoir did you follow me here?" Alex said.

I got up slightly and looked at Alex who was giving me a confused looked. I looked down out of embarrassment that I had been found out. I then heard the children's foots steps get closer, I looked behind us to see a huge crowd of them, with even a few adults to add more danger to me. Alex and I got up as the crowd came to a halt a few feet away from us.

"Look Alex has the Pokémon." One of the children said.

I was starting to get scared again and I went behind Alex to hide myself. I had to crouch down to get to his height. I wrapped my arms around him and rested my head on his shoulder so I could see.

One of the male adults stepped forward; he was taller than me and wore some kind of brown jacket made from a material I couldn't recognize. He had black hair that seemed to spike forward a bit.

"Mind explaining this to us Alex?" he asked

"Ummm... well this is Gardevoir, she's a Pokémon." Alex said nervously

"Yes I can see that, but what is it doing here." He said, I cringed slightly at him calling me an it.

"She... well... she followed me I suppose." Alex said "I guess she was curious to where I was going."

"Regardless, you know pets are not allowed here." He said. A pet? He thinks I'm a pet?

"She's not a pet!" Alex said somewhat forcefully. "We don't own her, no one does."

I tightened my grip a bit to hug Alex, thanking him for standing up for me.

"Oh, so it's wild, well then we'll just have to remove it from this area." He started to walk closer.

My heart started to beat faster; I was getting more scared as he got closer with every step. What did he mean by remove me? I didn't like this human, he frightened me more than most. I lifted one of my arms and a purple aura engulfed it.

"STAY AWAY!" I shouted as I close my eyes and blindly fired a Shadow Ball.

I heard the crowd of humans gasp with a few screams, when I opened my eyes I saw the Shadow Ball exploded in the air. No one was hit. A moment of silence passed and I saw the same woman with the Arcanine approach.

"What's going on here?" she asked the human that scared me.

"This wild Pokémon has trespassed on school ground and attacked me." He said. "I demand you take action."

The woman looked at me and Alex and stated to move closer. I was starting to get scared again.

"Stay calm Gardevoir." Alex reassured me.

That calmed me down slightly but that fact another human was walking towards us was still worrying me.

"Is all that true young man?" she asked Alex.

"Well... yes, but she was scared, she's very shy of humans and gets scared easily of them." Alex pleaded "Please, she's my friend."

I was touched at how much Alex cared about me; it took me a few seconds to realize I started nuzzling his cheek. The woman just stared at us thinking about what to do.

"Alright." She finally decided " Because no one got hurt, I'm going to let it go this time, but if this happens again I will be forced to take action and it will be on you young man."

Alex nodded and said. "I understand Officer Jenny."

The woman named Officer Jenny walked away, bit of a weird name 'Officer Jenny', it would make more sense if it was just Jenny. Maybe it was a thing in human culture.

"Hold on." The man said "You can't just let this go!"

"She didn't technically do anything wrong, at least not on purpose." She said "It's only fair to issue a warning."

"BULLSHIT! It shot an attack at me, you need to take action. Have your mutt attack it." He pointed toward the Arcanine, which in response let out an angry growl.

"Mr. Brinson, need I remind you there are children present and I will not tolerate your attitude any further." She shot an angry glare at him.

The man named Mr. Brinson let out a 'huff' and pushed his way through the crowd.

"Alright people, move along shows over" Officer Jenny said while clapping her hands. "Get back to what you were doing."

The children left moaning something about not seeing me anymore, everyone was soon gone except for me, Alex and those two children he was standing with earlier. One was a boy shorter than Alex with short black hair and had two round things in front of his brown eyes; I didn't know what the purpose was of those. He wore a white shirt with some sort of red thing hanging from his neck that stretched down his chest. The other was a girl with blond hair that hanged to her shoulders and blue eyes; she was taller than the boy but not as tall as Alex. She wore a dark red shirt that appeared to be held together by some circular objects that rang down the center.

"So why didn't you tell us you found a Pokémon Alex?" the girl asked.

"Sorry Jessica... I just never thought to bring it up." Alex said to his friend who was named Jessica.

I looked at the two children as they examine me, I gripped Alex tighter out if fear. He noticed this.

"It's okay Gardevoir; these are my friends Jessica and her brother Brendan" Alex said pointing to them.

The two siblings continued to examine me out of curiosity. As the one named Brendan moved closer I hide my face into Alex's back.

"She really is shy isn't she?" I heard a male voice say, I assumed it was Brendan.

"It's okay Gardevoir, you can trust us we won't hurt you." Jessica's voice was innocent, but that didn't ease my tension.

I went through both of their emotions, and found that just like Alex they had no hostile intentions towards me. Maybe these two thought the same way Alex those and that's why he was friends with them. If Alex can make friends with people like him I suppose I could trust them. I extended my hand out silently asking them to shake; I figured I owed them a sign of trust if they'll accept it. A few seconds passed but I felt my hand lightly grabbed and was shook. I could sense it was Jessica and Brendan did the same right after. I poked my head out to see them smiling at me, I smiled back and stood up.

"Wow, I heard Gardevoirs are beautiful Pokémon, but you can't experience it until you see it." Jessica said circling around me.

"It looks like she has fully matured, and has developed her Psychic abilities well." Brendan said while tipping the circle things on his eyes. I felt a little weird at Brendan examining me; I was surprised that he could tell all that by just looking at me.

"Gardevoir, I was wondering." Alex asked "Why did you follow me here?"

I didn't know how to answer that, I wanted to tell Alex. But I didn't know how. The best thing I could think of was pointing to the big building he was in, and I did just that. They just stared, obviously thinking about what I was trying to tell them.

"I think she was curious about you going to the school." Brendan said. The school must been the building I was pointing at.

"Is that right Gardevoir?" Alex asked me, which I responded by nodding.

"Do you know what a school is Gardevoir?" Jessica asked. I shook my head.

"Gardevoir doesn't know too much about how humans live, would you like to know what a school is Gardevoir?" Alex said. I smiled and nodded happy that my curiosity would be settled.

"Well you see, a school is a place where children learn many things such as history and science." Brendan started explaining "This place educates us and helps us decide what we're going to do when we grow up."

"Not to mention really boring." Jessica cut him off.

"Education is not boring sis, all these things they are teaching us, new things to do." He said back.

"But why do they have to make it boring, why can't we go out and learn things in the forest or something." She said.

"But that's what books are for, to teach us what's in the forest." Brendan continued his argument.

The two of them kept arguing with each other, I'm not exactly sure what is was about. I know of education but what was a book?

I heard Alex sigh. "They'll go at it for a bit." He said to me. "But what they're both saying is true, the school those teach us even if it is boring at times."

I think I understood now, Alex and the other children went here to learn things to help them grow up. And the adults are the ones who teach and guide them. It was somewhat similar to how my kind did it only it seems much more intense with humans. I couldn't help but admire how they cared for their young like my kind did. Jessica and Brendan then stopped arguing.

"So Alex, does Gardevoir like to play?" Jessica asked.

"Ya, she loves a good game of chase." Alex said smiling. "I gotta warn you though she's fast."

"Really, well we'll see about that." She said as she approached more.

I gave a slick smile and negated the gravity below me. In a split second I moved behind her. I couldn't see Jessica's face but I could tell she was confused and had no idea where I went. Alex's and Brendan's chuckling gave me away as she turned around and her jaw dropped.

"Gardevoir's can ignore the effect of gravity and make themselves levitate." Brendan said. "You would know that if you read more books."

"Don't start with me brother." She groaned.

"I told you she was fast." Alex said.

"But I bet she can't get away from all three of us." She said.

They all smiled and looked like they were ready to bolt any second. I smiled in return and started to levitate backwards slowly.

"GET HER!" They all in unison as they ran after me.

**/ / /**

**6 months later**

**(Normal P.O.V)**

Alex and Gardevoir were once again playing chase in the spring. Alex had gotten faster over the months, he has become more agile and his stamina has increased. Gardevoir had to try to outrun Alex now; she even occasionally hid in trees which Alex had to climb to get to her. This did help increase Alex's physical strength slightly. Gardevoir would usually do a double team at least once to try to fool Alex, but she was really trying to figure out how he always knew which one was her. He jumped to her every time she just couldn't figure out why.

Gardevoir's Psychic abilities were slowly getting stronger. Mostly now she could levitate for much longer now and she could teleport much more without getting tired. Her strength only increase slightly due to that she never had to really use it. And she hadn't had need to use any attacks for a while so she hasn't improved any of those.

For the past few months Gardevoir started sleeping in Alex's house, at first it was just for rain but it had now become a regular thing. Alex offered her his bed and he would sleep on the couch, but Gardevoir wouldn't allow it. She would feel bad that see would force Alex out of his bed, plus she started liking sleeping next to him. After about playing chase for about an hour both were getting tired, the two decided to retire to the house for the day.

It took a few minutes to reach the house where they found Abigail at the door. She looked like she was ready to go somewhere.

"I'm heading out to deliver some berries to the market." She said "Want to come along Alex."

"Sure why not." Alex said, then immediately Abigail placed 6 bags of berries in his arms.

"Good then you can carry the load." She said then walked ahead of them.

"Darn it." Alex muttered to himself, then looked to his side to see Gardevoir giggling that he had been tricked.

"What about you Gardevoir, do you want to come too?" Alex asked her.

Gardevoir stopped giggling and thought about it. She had only really followed Alex to the school a few times. See was a lot less scared of the people here as she found out most of the ones she met were kind hearted and had no intention to hurt her. She sometimes even played with some of the other children at the school but mostly with Alex, Jessica and Brendan. But she really hasn't seen much of the town. Gardevoir then nodded, silently saying yes.

"Good." Alex then put 3 of the bags in Gardevoir's hand. "Then you can help me carry the berries."

Gardevoir groaned that she just fell for the same trick Abigail did on Alex. But she then smiled and lifted the bags with her psychic.

"Hey that's not fair." Alex said, which Gardevoir responded by sticking her tongue out at him.

**/ / / **

As they walked through the town Gardevoir looked around the parts of Beacon town she hasn't seen before. The many houses they walked by looked the same yet they seemed different. People glanced at Gardevoir as they walked by. Gardevoir put her hand on Alex's shoulder to feel safer. The eventually entered a plaza. The plaza was packed with people and stands, which were surrounded by stores that were selling various things. As they entered the area, people started to notice Gardevoir and started to stare at her out of curiosity. Gardevoir's grip on Alex's shoulder tightened at the sight of all the people. Alex immediately noticed this.

"It's alright Gardevoir, just stay close to me." He reassured her.

Gardevoir really wanted to hug Alex right there, but stopped herself as she didn't want to make a scene and draw more attention than her very presence already has.

They eventually reached to destination; it was a big tent with many stands in it. The stands had containers that were filled with many different kinds of berries. Abigail walked to one of the vendors and started to talk to him.

"Just leave the berries there." Abigail said to them. "We need to discuss some business things; it may take a while so you two go have fun."

Alex and Gardevoir placed the bags on the ground and walked out of the tent. Gardevoir took the sights in of all the stalls people were shopping at. She was curious of just what they were shopping for; surely all of the places didn't just sell supplies. Alex then looked to the left of them and noticed some construction going on.

"Wonder what they're building there?" He asked himself. The purpose of the construction site was for a clock tower, the frame of the structure, that was taller than all the other buildings was almost complete and the wall of the bottom half was almost completed. Next to the tower was a crane that was now carrying the steeple to place on the top of the tower. Curious as Alex was about how the construction was going, he decided against it as he didn't want to interrupt anything and doubted Gardevoir would be interested in that.

Gardevoir, who wasn't even paying attention to the construction, took an interest in some Pokémon helping out with the shops. She was curious on why they were helping the humans with their work. She saw a small feline Pokémon with light purple fur coat helping lift crates with a psychic power. She recognized this Pokémon as an Espeon and she was female by the looks of it. Around her were two Eevee's running around and play-wrestling, Gardevoir wondered if they were her children. As a fellow psychic type Gardevoir went to approach her and ask her a question.

Alex was a little surprised when Gardevoir let go of his hand and walked off. He noticed her heading towards an Espeon, probably to say hi he thought. He didn't want to let he know that she just unintentionally got the courage to walk out in the open with humans all over the place. So not wanting her to get scared he stood there and observed.

Gardevoir walked up next to the Espeon, who had now noticed her approach.

"(Hel... Hello.)" She said nervously.

The Espeon just gave a confused look. "(Ummmm... hello, can I help you?)"

"(Can I ask you something?)" Gardevoir said.

"(Why are you helping humans do their jobs?)" Gardevoir asked silently.

The Espeon just smiled at her. "(Fresh from the wild are you?)"

"(Well, I still kind of am.)" She said.

"(Well I guess I understand your confusion, but just to be clear on where you are, what do you think of humans?)" Espeon asked her.

Gardevoir wondered why she would ask that, but answered anyways. "(I used to think that they were a cruel and corrupted species that seeks to dominate everything, but now...)"

"(Now you wonder if humans are a kind and nurturing species that take care of others." Espeon finished for her. "(Or something along those lines.)"

Gardevoir was caught off guard that she knew that, making her wonder if she had this conversation before. "(Ya, pretty much.)"

The Espeon sighed "(Well I won't lie to you, they are many humans that are like how you thought they were. But as you've probably noticed they aren't all like that. Although if you think about it Pokémon aren't any different.)"

That made Gardevoir tilt her head. "(What do you mean?)"

"(Think about it, all Pokémon have personalities and think on their own and thus are capable of being cruel and corrupt like humans do in the same way.)" The Espeon quickly explained.

"(I never really thought of it like that.)" Gardevoir admitted.

"(So you just assumed that someone would act the way you'd think just because of what they are? I believe the humans have a term for that.)" The Espeon said with a smirk on her face.

"(Then why do we even make those assumptions if that if how they usually act?)" Gardevoir asked.

"(I believe those are called instincts dear, or even one's nature if you will. We act on those because it is developed through our species evolution over time. But it is always up to us to act on them.)" Espeon once again explained.

"(I... I suppose your right.)" Gardevoir said. "(But that still doesn't answer my question, why are you helping the humans?")

"(Well, to make a long story short I wandered to their house when I was an Eevee. They gave me food and I kept coming back so they let me in the family. I met a mate and settled down. So I help them because they treat me like I'm part of the family and thus will help my family when I can.)" Espeon said as she just summed up the last few years of her life.

"(They treat you like family?)" Gardevoir asked.

"(I know what you're thinking, and yes I was put in a Pokéball but I made the choice to be.)" Espeon said. "(They see me as an equal, in fact most people in this town see Pokémon as equals to them.)"

Gardevoir nodded to this, she was begging to understand.

"(So does everyone in this town treat the Pokémon who live with them like families?)" Gardevoir asked.

"(Well...)" Espeon looked to the sky, thinking about this. "(I can't really vouch for everyone on this as I don't know them on a personal level. But the most people here treat Pokémon like family, friend partners even... and well... some other things.) She blushed slightly as she mumbled that last part.

Gardevoir didn't know what she meant by that last part, but before she could ask Espeon changed the subject.

"(So what about you, what are do you think you about him?)" Espeon asked.

Gardevoir didn't understand. "(What do you mean?)"

"(Come on.)" Espeon nudged her slightly. "(I noticed you're little human friend over there watching us, where do you stand with him?)"

Gardevoir looked over to see Alex leaning against one of the stall watching them converse. She completely forgot that she left Alex's side, and left a little guilty for leaving him. But he didn't follow she he must have thought that it was okay.

"(Oh, Alex. Well I guess your friends. Well... I-I don't really live with him; I mean I have slept there a bit... well a lot actually.)" Gardevoir tried to explain but she didn't fully understand it herself.

"(Hey, its okay you're just warming up to it. You'll decide one day if you want to live this life or not. And if he's really your friend, he won't force this decision on you.)" Espeon reassured her.

"(Okay, thanks for talking to me about this.") Gardevoir tanked her.

"(My pleasure dear, anytime.)" Espeon said.

Gardevoir looked at the two Eevee's who were still wrestling. "(So are those two yours?)" She asked them.

"(Yes, remember when I said i found a mate. Well I was also blessed with two little ones.)" She said gleefully.

"(Yes it is a blessing... I hope one day I can be a mother too.")

**/ / /**

Alex watched as Gardevoir socialised with the Espeon. He wondered what they were talking about but figured there was no point in asking as he wouldn't understand. He leaned against the stall not too far away while keeping an eye on Gardevoir. He wasn't really worried about her, mostly curious how she could handle herself in the town without him. So far it seemed she was doing a good job.

Alex looked at his watched to see about 10 minutes have past; he figured he should head back to Mom by now. But he didn't want to stop Gardevoir from talking with her new friend. But at the same time Mom might get worried and start looking through the crowd, but they hadn't gone too far from the tent so it wouldn't take her long to find them.

Alex shrugged his shoulders. "What's the worst that can happen?"

As soon as he finished asking himself that a very loud snap was heard and it echoed through the market. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked to the source of the sound. The market fell silent as Alex turned his attention to where he heard it. Alex looked up to see that the crane had stopped moving. But one of the two front ropes holding up the steeple had broken in half. Loud creaking noises the came from the top of the crane.

At the edge of the crane, the hinge next to the one that was attached to the broken rope was starting to bend. As it bended the bolts inside were starting to loosen. One of the bolts then shot out and bounced of the crane then off the building and plummeted to the ground. Alex heard a slight _ting_ sound come from the ground. He looked at the ground to see the same bolt roll to his feet.

"IT'S GONNA BREAK!" Yelled one of the workers.

The last of the bolts shot out and the back, and larger, part of the steeples balanced was severed as it swung towards to half constructed clock tower. The steeple coiled with the beams that framed the structure in the center of the building resulting in a loud _bang_. The workers had already cleared the sight at this point as this was out of their control. The weight of the steeple caused the remainder of the bolts holding the ropes the bust out. The large steeple fell to the ground making a loud _thud_ and a dust cloud that covered it for about half a minute. Lucky no one was under it.

A crowd started to form around the scene, including Alex and Gardevoir, thinking that the incident was over. Officer Jenny then pushed her way to the front of the crowd.

"Okay people, that was a close one." She yelled out. "Now we got a mess to clean up here, so it you could all..."

Jenny was interrupted by an even louder _creak_ then before was heard. Everyone looked to the clock tower. The collision of the steeple had bent the beams in the center, making the balance of the tower unstable. Another _creek _was heard and the clock tower bent more forward, right in the direction of the crowd. The crowd just stood there, frozen. The weight of the upper half shifting forward was too much pressure on the beams and it only got worse as they gave in. The beams snapped, exchanging all the pressure to the back and side beams and they were not fairing any better.

As the snap was heard Officer Jenny yelled out. "CLEAR THE AREA NOW!"

As the crowd turned to run the bolts in the remaining beams shot out causing them to detach and cause the upper half of the tower to fall. As the tower plugged to the ground it collided with the crane. Its slender structure was no match for the sheer size of the faller tower and was taken down with it.

Alex was pulling Gardevoir by her hand as they dashed with crowed, trying to get as far away as they could before the tower fell. Gardevoir had her eyes closed as she let Alex guide her through the crowed, she was trying to drown out all the screams of the people and trying to ignore all the emotions of panic that were practically drowning her. However she found an emotion that stood out of the rest, worry and fear, she traced the emotion to her left and she could hear a woman cry out.

"MY BABY, MY BABY IS STILL IN THERE!" She cried but was being pushed by the crowd and drowned out her voice with their screams.

Gardevoir looked back but couldn't see anything. She closed her eyes to sense the people behind her. To her shock, at the back was an infant human and he wasn't moving. Gardevoir started to panic more for the safety of that baby than anything else now. She took a quick glance at Alex who had not noticed, instead was running with the crowd with everyone else. Gardevoir made a hasty decision and broke free Alex's hand.

Alex noticed this instantly and turned around to see Gardevoir levitate above the crowd and teleport towards the tower.

"GARDEVOIR!" Alex cried as he was pushed forward with the crowd.

The baby was crying in its stroller, at the noise, confusion, and that his Mother wasn't around. The tower with the crane and debris from beams bolts and tools were falling right toward the baby boy. All he could do why cry his heart out for his Mother to come back. As the debris got closer, instead of speeding up from the cruel effect of gravity, it slowed down. The clanging of the metal died down as the falling tower came to a halt about 5 meters above the baby. The crowd noticed the sound died down but there was no thud of the tower hitting the ground. One by one they turned around and were all shocked at what they saw.

The baby started to stop crying as he noticed a figure standing next to him. Gardevoir was right next to the stroller holding her hands up, her eyes glowing a light blue and her two red spikes glowing resulted in a red colour. Gardevoir held up the fallen tower with her psychic, although she wasn't lifting it physically she still felt the majority of the weight of it on her entire body. A loud _creek_ was heard and the tower sunk another inch, Gardevoir couldn't keep this up much longer. The baby looked at Gardevoir, not sure what was going on but felt safe at her sight. Gardevoir felt this emotion. She looked at the baby and smiled, now more determined to finish this.

Gardevoir mustered all her strength and slowly moved her hands forward, the tower slowly moved with them. The sounds of metal clanging could still be heard as she moved the broken tower. Once it was far enough away from them Gardevoir let go of it resulting it in crashing into the ground, nowhere near to harm anyone.

Gardevoir then looked down to the baby who was now making cheerful noses to Gardevoir. She then gave one more smile to the baby, but her fatigue caught up to her and she collapsed to the ground. Now that the baby couldn't see Gardevoir anyone, he started to cry again.

**/ / /**

Alex rushed over to Gardevoir as he saw her collapse. He reached her body put her in his arms.

"Gardevoir? Gardevoir wake up!" He said as he shook her slightly.

"(It's alright Alex.)" He heard her voice.

Gardevoir then opened her eyes and smiled at Alex. Who wasted no time in hugging her. Gardevoir wanted to hug him back but couldn't find the strength to move her arms.

"Oh Jacob, I was so worried." A women's voice said.

Alex and Gardevoir looked next to them to see the Mother holding her baby in a hug, who had stopped crying now. She then looked to Gardevoir.

"You saved my son's life... thank you." She said with tears in her eyes.

Gardevoir smiled to the Mother and gave her a nod. Alex then helped Gardevoir up by supporting her on his shoulders. As they rose the crowd, who had now made a circle around them, erupted in a loud cheer and started to clap their hands. Gardevoir was startled by this.

"You just saved a baby's life Gardevoir; it's only natural that they cheer and like you for it." Alex said.

Gardevoir sensed all the emotions; they were all praise and joy directed to her. Gardevoir couldn't help but feel joy too; humans liked her and they didn't want to hurt her. Gardevoir then noticed Espeon in on the crowd; she simply gave Gardevoir a nod and proceeded to clap with her paws.

Espeon was right, they did treat them equally here and Gardevoir felt accepted by this town. If this wasn't a home to her she didn't know what else would be.

**/ / /**

**2 years and 8 months later**

Gardevoir was helping Abigail pick berries from the tree garden. She held a basket in one hand that was half full of different kinds of berries. Gardevoir searched the tree for ripe berries and found a big sitrus berry. She took the berry in her hand, but instead of placing it in the basket like the others she took a bite out of it. Gardevoir always enjoyed the juicy taste of the berries here, but she just loved the sitrus berries more than anything.

"You little sneak." Abigail said while nudging her.

Gardevoir giggled as she continued to chew her favourite food.

"Don't eat too much. After the delivery is made, dinner should be ready." Abigail said.

Gardevoir nodded and continued to pick the berries.

After a few months Gardevoir had practically moved into Abigail and Alex's house, though she would sometimes go to the spring if she wanted some alone time or to play with Alex. Abigail did offer to get Gardevoir her own bed, but she declined as she had gotten used to sleeping with Alex and now was less comfortable sleeping without him. Gardevoir was now no longer afraid to be around humans; still today they recognize her as the one who saved a baby from a falling clock tower. Gardevoir took her newfound courage to interact with humans to learn more about them. Over time she has learned how most humans do things now and even does them herself sometimes, like eating with dinner utensils. She was a bit surprised on how humans even share some similarities on how her own kind act. Gardevoir and become a recognizable figure in this town, almost everyone waved to her as she passed by, filling Gardevoir with joy as she felt their joy.

After Abigail and Gardevoir finished gathering the berries they walked to the house to find Alex putting on his boots. Alex had grown a bit since the past year; still Gardevoir teased him a bit that she was taller. Considering that Gardevoir was only 2 years older than Alex, and yet he reached her chest he was still pretty tall. As Gardevoir learned more about human's she found out that they used the same time system that Pokémon do only difference is humans mature at a slower rate, although she found it interesting that they had devices called clocks to keep track of the time. Alex was a teenager now; while Gardevoir considered it his second evolution. Another thing Gardevoir found interesting was that humans have different stages in life much like her kind do. Human have child, teenager, and adult. While Gardevoirs had Ralts, Kirlia, then Gardevoir or Gallade. Although their evolution wasn't as 'instant' as theirs, she still found it remarkable and considered Humans to just be a very different type of Pokémon on their own.

"Ready to go?" Abigail asked Alex.

"Ya, I'm good." He replied.

"Good, now we have three stops to make. We'll each take one so it'll go faster." Abigail started to explain.

**/ / /**

At the edge of the town, a lone figure walked along the road. He wore a blue vest with a black shirt underneath. His black baggy pants blew slightly in the wind. Thumps were heard as his black combat boots hit the earth. His black hair was long that it covered his ears and covered his left eye. His visible green coloured eye looked forward as he entered Beacon town.

The wanderer looked around as he entered, not knowing where to start to search. He figured he could just ask some townsfolk, but he didn't want to be noticed much if possible not at all. But he wanted this to be done as quickly as possible and get out of here to avoid attention. He walked by the school and noticed one name in a leather jacket walking to his car. He decided to ask him as he was the only one he could see in the area.

Mr. Brinson unlocked his car with his keys from a distance. A beep was heard signaling the car was unlocked. Mr. Brinson was ready to head home when he saw a young man approach him. He looked to be about 15-18 years old no way he could pass 20. Mr. Brinson stopped wondering why this person whose appearance was a bit unsettling approach him.

"Excuse me, can I ask you something sir?" The wanderer asked.

"Sure I guess." Mr. Brinson replied.

"I've heard that there is a wild Gardevoir somewhere around this town, do you know where I can find it?" He asked.

Mr. Brinson now had a slight smile on his face, now having a good idea what was going on.

"As a matter of fact I can tell you where it is." He replied. "At the edge of the town near the forest, you'll find a house with a berry garden. It is usually in that area.

The wanderer looked in the direction where he could see the forest outline. He smiled and said. "Thank you sir."

He walked off towards the forest, but stopped after a few second.

"One more thing, is it male or female?" He asked.

"Female." Mr. Brinson said quickly.

The smile on the wanderer's face grew. "Perfect." He said.

**/ / /**

Gardevoir had just finished delivering the berries to the store, which the clerk thanked her for, and was now walking back home. She had the delivery that was closest so she got it done in no time. Alex had to walk a bit further than her, while Abigail took a bike and went to the other side of the town. She thought about how Abigail has done so much for he and Alex and figured she should make it up to her one day.

Gardevoir was now at the house, she turned to corner to approach he side with the door. Once she turned though she saw a figure standing there. A human, one she had never met before that was taller than her. He was looking around the house like he was looking for something. He then turned and saw Gardevoir; the wanderer smiled and approached her.

The humans green eye was a little unsettling to Gardevoir, as he approached her she went through his emotions. But found nothing. Nothing was there, something was not right how could he not feel anything. Gardevoir thought for a second whether or not this was a figment of her imagination. Then the wanderer spoke to her.

"Ah there you are." He said almost as if he knew her. "Yes you'll do fine." He said as he looked over her body.

Gardevoir was confused, what was he talking about? The wanderer then reached into his vest and pulled out a round object. Gardevoir's eyes widened as she knew exactly what it was. The wanderer threw the Pokéball in the air. It opened and a dark red light came out of it and went to the ground.

The red light took form of a tall figure, about the same height as Gardevoir, long ears then came out of the sides of the figures head and they dangled down to its hips. The red light dissipated the reveal a chocolate brown colour, the bottom part of its legs, wrists, edge of its ears and rather large eyebrows were a cream colour. It had large pink eyes. With a bust on its chest top indentify it was female. Gardevoir recognized this as a Lopunny. But she looked somewhat sad.

"Now Dizzy Punch!" The Wandered yelled.

The Lopunny leapt forward and raised its fist to Gardevoir; she went to hit Gardevoir to the face with her attack. Gardevoir however just glided to the side easily dogging the attack. Gardevoir didn't know why but she was under attack by this human. And he was commanding this Lopunny to do it for him. Gardevoir remember that she learned these are called Pokémon trainers, the very thing she fear the most of humans.

"Dizzy Punch again!" The wanderer yelled.

The Lopunny turned around quickly and went to hit Gardevoir again. Which Gardevoir just as effortlessly dogged as she did before. Gardevoir knew the trainer would not stop until he got what he wanted, so she had to fight back. Gardevoir quickly turned around and fired a focus blast at the Lopunny. The Lopunny turned around and realised to late that Gardevoir fired back. The Focus blast hit her in the chest; she was knocked off her feet and sent back flying to her trainer. As she was airborne she let out a scream of pain until she hit the ground.

Gardevoir thought running now, while she had the chance but she then saw something that made her blood boil.

"USELESS BITCH!" The wanderer screamed as he kicked the Lopunny in the ribs with his boots.

The Lopunny screamed and the forced of the kick sent her a few feet away. Gardevoir now felt sorry for the poor Lopunny. Gardevoir now grew a hated for this human, not just because he attacked her, but because he mistreats Pokémon as if he owned then like slaves. Gardevoir wasn't going to run now, she was going to beat this Trainer and teach him a lesson he will never forget. Gardevoir focused her energy and used Calm mind to give herself her power and defense.

The wanderer returned the Lopunny to the Pokéball, and pulled out another one.

"So you beat the weakling, that was a test. Now for the real fun." He said as he threw the ball.

"_Wait if that was a test for me, then why did he hurt her not hitting me?" _Gardevoir thought.

The red light emerged once again from the ball, and another figure took shape. This one looked very human, but the head seemed to have a horn stick out on top. As the red light died Gardevoir couldn't believe what she saw. They was standing a Gallade with its eyes closed, one of her own kind. She recognized the elbow swords in his arms the red gem in his chest and back much like hers. But the colour was off. Instead of green, it looked like a large shade of grey was mixed into it; almost looking like it was faded. The Gallade then opened his blood red eyes to Gardevoir, which made jump a bit. The Gallade smiled maniacally.

"Well look what we have here." The Gallade spoke in the human language of English, surprising Gardevoir more. "A new toy, to have fun with."

The Gallade looked back to the wanderer who nodded. "Don't ruff her up too much, if we want to use her later." He said to the Gallade.

The Gallade's maniacal smile grew and he dashed at Gardevoir at blinding speed. Gardevoir had no time to react as she was punched in the gut. She let out a yelp in pain and held her gut with her hands. The Gallade barley gave Gardevoir anytime to breathe as he delivered a roundhouse kick to her ribs. The kick sent Gardevoir flying into the wall of Alex's house. Gardevoir grunted in pain as she clenched her ribs in. The Gallade drew his arm blade and struck the wall only a few inches from Gardevoir's neck. Gardevoir looked at the blade in fear that it was only a few inches away from slitting her throat.

"Come on, at least try." The Gallade said as he grabbed the neck and threw her to the sidewalk.

Gardevoir struggled to get up. She thought about why a Gallade out of all Pokémon would do this, they were supposed to be noble Pokémon that help the weak ones.

"_What could this human have done to change that?" _Gardevoir thought.

She got up trying to keep her balance and looked at the Gallade approaching her. This Gallade was the complete opposite of what she knew Gallades were. She didn't care anymore; he was too far from redemption. Gardevoir focused her power in her hand and fired a Shadow Ball at the Gallade. The Gallade simply caught the shadow in his hand and threw it back at her. The Shadow Ball exploded in Gardevoir's face, knocking her again to the concrete ground. She couldn't find the strength to move anymore.

"That's enough Hades." The wanderer said as he walked next to the Gallade named Hades.

Gardevoir's could see the Wanderer stand above her, pulled out a Pokéball and looked at her mischievously. Gardevoir knew what he was doing now, he was going to catch her and enslave her just like that poor Lopunny. Suddenly everything Gardevoir feared about humans came back to her in a rush. This was the very reason she feared them in the first place and it was happening right now to her and there was nothing she could do about it.

**/ / /**

Alex was almost home now, he figured Gardevoir would be there already waiting for him. He looked down in the basket he was carrying to see a sitrus berry he saved for Gardevoir. Alex turned the corner and was shocked at the scene. A human and a Gallade were standing over Gardevoir who was on the ground and looked hurt. He immediately rushed towards them.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" He shouted. Getting their attention.

Alex rushed to Gardevoir's side, Hades and the Wanderer backed off a bit.

"Who are you?" Alex asked

"My name is Simon. And to answer your first question; it's simple, she's a wild Pokémon and I'm going to catch her." Simon said.

"What?... You can't!" Alex blurted out.

"And why not?" Simon asked. "She's a wild Pokémon and as a trainer, I am licensed to catch her."

"Because... because..." Alex stuttered trying to think of something. "Because I already caught her."

"Really?" Simon said.

"Y-Yes" Alex lied.

Simon's eyes narrowed at Alex. "Prove it." He said

"Wh-what?" Alex stuttered.

"Prove it, return her to her Pokéball." Simon demanded.

Alex was back in corner now; he needed to figure a way out of this. "I-I... I don't have it on me."

Simon sighed. "Is that really the best you got, I don't need a psychic type next to me to know you're lying. And even if you have caught her, are you a licensed trainer?"

Alex gulped "Well... I'm..."

"Then not only can you do nothing to stop me, you have no right to stop me." Simon said.

Alex didn't know what to do as Simon approached Gardevoir with a Pokéball in his hand.

"Now if you don't mind, I have a prize to grab." Simon said to Alex in a dark tone.

Alex just reacted on instinct and grabbed Simons arm holding the Pokéball. He wasn't going to let his best friend be taken away from her.

"NO, I WON"T LET YOU!" Alex yelled as he struggled to pull Simon away.

Simon merely sighed and lifted his arm and Alex with it.

He looked Alex in the eye and said. "If you know what's good for you, THEN STAY OUT OF MY WAY!" He yelled as he threw Alex to the ground.

"Alright this has been delayed long enough." Simon said as he walked to Gardevoir.

"Well it's going to be delayed much longer." A women voice came from behind him.

Simon turned around to see Officer Jenny, Abigail and a group of people with Pokémon behind him.

"Or should I say it will never happen, and you stop what you're doing." Officer Jenny said.

"I just catching a wild Pokémon, I've done nothing wrong." Simone said.

"Wrong buster." Jenny said "By the looks of things, you've trespassed on property." She pointed to him standing on Abigail's property. "Destruction of property." She pointed to Abigail's now cracked wall. "And to top it off, you've assaulted a young boy." She points to Alex who it just now getting up. "That can get you a good amount in the slammer. But tell you what, because I don't want to ever see your face again you will leave this town and never come back." She walked close to him. "But if you set foot in this town again, you can kiss you days of freedom goodbye mister."

"And what will you do if I refuse?" Simon asked.

The growls of Jenny's Arcanine and the other Pokémon in the crowd were all the answer he needed.

"Very well, we will leave." Simone said.

"Come on, I can take them all on." Hades said to his trainer.

"No, this is more trouble than it's worth. We're leaving." Simon returned Hades to his Pokéball and walked away.

Abigail walked over to Alex. "Are you alright?" She asked.

"I'm fine, check on Gardevoir." Alex said.

Abigail examined Gardevoir's body; she was still awake but not moving.

"She's alright, but seems to be out of energy." Abigail said.

Alex then thought of something, he reached onto the basket and pulled out the sitrus berry he saved for her.

"Here Gardevoir." He said as he feed it to her.

Gardevoir slowly ate the berry and its healing effects quickly took place on her. Gardevoir sat up and put a hand to her head, where she was stuck with her own Shadow Ball. She looked up at Alex.

"Are yo...!" Alex was interrupted by Gardevoir tackling Alex with a hug to the ground. Alex felt his short get wet as Gardevoir cried into it. He patted Gardevoir's back in an attempt to comfort her. Gardevoir had just come face to face with her worst nightmare, everything she hated about humans were represented by that one human.

"Is she going to be okay?" Jenny asked.

Gardevoir looked up to see Jenny and the crowd of humans and Pokémon standing there. her fear got the better of her and she took off towards the forest.

"WAIT GADRE..." Alex was stopped by his Mom.

"Listen Alex." Abigail told him. "Sometimes a woman needs to be left alone, trust me."

Alex didn't like it, but he watched as Gardevoir disappeared into the forest.

**/ / /**

Gardevoir was now at the spring, crying against a tree. She wiped the tears from her eyes and thought maybe she overreacted. But right now she just wanted to be alone. But to make things worse Gardevoir left her body get warmer and she got aroused for no reason. She just entered her heat.

"(Why now.)" Gardevoir grumbled to herself.

Wanting to get this over with a quickly as possible Gardevoir spread her legs and wasted no time in putting her finger in her vagina. She moved her finger at a normal pace as she didn't feel any force pleasure at this time.

Gardevoir closed her eyes and looked up trying to think of something else to get this off her mind. She couldn't help but think about what just happened. She was conscience the entire time she was on the ground, but couldn't move at all. She thought about how Alex fought to keep her from being captured. Although he couldn't do anything to actually stop him, he delayed Simon long enough for Jenny to arrive. He admired his courage, and how much she meant to him. An image of Alex then appeared in Gardevoir's mind.

Her body suddenly tensed up and she let out a yelp. She finger started to move faster as she pictured Alex. Pleasure was filling her body, only this wasn't forced pleasure. She was enjoying it. She tried to stop, but at the same time she didn't want to. Her body acted on its own. The image Alex shifted to him giving Gardevoir a hug. Her body was getting tenser as she felt her inside tighten around her finger, but she wasn't climaxing yet. The image changes to Alex now kissing Gardevoir. Gardevoir knew this was wrong but why was she enjoying it so much. And why couldn't she stop. The kiss showed Alex rubbing his hand along Gardevoir's back then he started to rub her back gem, a very sensitive spot on her body. Gardevoir used her free hand against her will to massage her breasts.

Alex pulled away from the kiss and gave Gardevoir a seduction smile he then rubbed his own hand along her breast. Gardevoir's real hand started to move the same way Alex's did to treat her it was real, and she was falling for it. Their hands were in perfect sync as the massaged her breasts; they then pulled her dress down reviling her perked breasts. Alex started to rub his finger around her nipple and Gardevoir did the same. He then pinched the nipple causing Gardevoir to let out a loud yelp. Gardevoir stopped trying to stop herself now as this was the most pleasure she has ever had in her life. Alex gave Gardevoir once more lust filled kiss and his hand moved to her chest gem. And that sent Gardevoir over the edge.

She gasped as she climaxed over her hand and the imaged faded from her mind. She continued to cum as the image was completely gone and she opened her eyes. Her entire hand and a bunch of the grass were covered in her liquid. She had never had an orgasm that hard in her life.

Gardevoir laid there, bewildered by what she just did. She just masturbated to Alex. And she enjoyed it. She didn't know what to think of this. Alex was a friend, and nothing more. She tries to think of any reason for this.

"_It... it had to be my heat. A-And he was the first male that popped in my mind and it just activated my hormones." _She thought.

But that was a very unlikely reason, as she has thought of males before and none had this effect. Gardevoir looked at her hand and her swollen vagina. She quickly stripped her dress and went to the spring to clean herself, she just wanted to forget this ever happened.

**/ / /**

**30 minutes later**

Alex and Abigail were sitting on their porch waiting for Gardevoir to come back. The crowd and Jenny had left a while ago.

"So how did you and Jenny get that crowd to help us?" Alex asked.

"A neighbour saw what was going on and called the cops. Jenny rallied up some people, I found them and followed and you know the rest." Abigail said.

Alex knew he had to wait for Gardevoir to come back but he was starting to worry. A part of him feared she left for good, but he shook the thought out of his head.

"Look." Abigail said and pointed to the forest.

Alex looked to see Gardevoir come out of the forest. He got up and ran to her. Abigail figured they needed some time alone. So she sat and watched.

Alex reached Gardevoir and hugged her. His face went into Gardevoir's breasts but neither of them cared.

Alex pulled away and asked. "Are you alright?"

Gardevoir leaned down on her knees to match his height.

"(I'm fine Alex.)" She said as she put her forehead to his. "(And thank you... for everything.)"

Gardevoir pulled Alex into a hug, which he returned. Gardevoir only thought of one thing while they were hugging.

"_I know you'll always be there for me Alex, just as I will always be there for you."_

**...**

**A long update after a long wait, was it worth it? ... NO IT WASN'T!**

**Anyways I have no excuse for why this took so long, I'm just sorry it did.**

**Also don't expect every chapter to be this long.**

**One more thing, I would like to give a shout out to possibly the best writer I've seen on this sight and his work deserves much more attention. **

**www. Fanfiction / u / 3827098 / Edge_Feyera (Take out the spaces and add .net after Fanfiction)**

**If you like Pokémon and Gardevoir then you will LOVE this story, because as he says. "This isn't your average Gardevoir tale."**


	6. Three trials

**At the end is something important for all you readers.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon**

**...**

**3 years and 2 months later.**

Alex and his two friends Brendan and Jessica were just walking into school, the bell had rung to signal that classes were starting in a few minutes. Alex had grown a bit more over time he now reached Gardevoir's eye level, but she still teased him a bit that she was taller. His time playing with Gardevoir had given Alex a good workout over the years and was clearly stronger. Aside from that he hadn't changed at all, he kind of like to stay consistent. Although he did consider growing some facial hair as he had started shaving. Brendan had also grown but was still he shortest of the three. His black hair was now longer than Alex's. Jessica had changed the most. She was still the middle one in height but her blond hair had now grown so long it past her hips. She had also developed noticeable B-cup breasts.

The three of them entered their class and sat down in the three desks they usually do. After a few minutes, small ring was heard to signal an announcement.

"Good morning students." A voice from the speaker was heard. "In a few minutes we will begin calling all senior classes to the Gymnasium to make a special announcement."

Seeing as Alex, Brendan and Jessica were in a senior class. They and everyone else in the class were a little confused why this was happening, but it did give them an excuse to get out of class.

**/ / /**

After about twenty minutes all the senior classes were in the gymnasium all seated in the chairs set up that faced the stage at the end of the big room. The room was filled with chatter of the students.

"So what do you think this is all about?" Alex asked his friends.

'I'm not sure; this was never announced before today. The website never mentioned it." Brendan said.

"Will you two stop being so impatient and just wait." Jessica said to them, surprising them both that she of them were telling them to stop being impatient.

A few moments later someone walked over to the microphone on the stage. The students recognized this tall man with grey hair as the principal of the school. Principal Edward stood silently at the microphone waiting for his students to let him speak. The students recognized this tactic of his and in a few moments the gym was silent.

"Good morning students." He finally spoke. "Well, I'm sure your all wondering what you're doing here." The Students looked at each other questionably. "Well this town was selected in the Sinnoh region to have three people selected for a certain event." He finished with putting emphasis on the word event.

The student's began to converse, curious about this event.

"Silence!" Principal Edward said sternly, which did the trick as the gym fell silent again. "To explain and start this event, allow me to introduce Professor Juniper."

As he finished his announcement and walked to the side, a mid-aged woman walked up to the microphone. She wore a white lab coat with a white shirt underneath and a green skirt. She had round red earrings that dangled from her ears. Her eyes were a cyan colour that could be mistaken for a light green. Her light brown hair stood in a swirly motion above her head.

"Professor Juniper" Brendan said to himself. "I swear I've heard that name before."

Professor Juniper reached the microphone and began to speak in an excited voice. "Hello everyone, I am pleased to announce that your town has decided that its school will be the one to hold the event." The students still had no idea what she was talking about.

"By the sound of your silence I'm going to assume none of you know what's going on, well your all in for a treat! So to sum it all up, three lucky students here will be given their own Pokémon!" The entire gym of students made a gasp. "That's right people but to choose the three who will receive their own Pokémon, we will hold three types of tests and the one that does the best in each one will be one of the three. We can't just give a Pokémon to anyone you know, it has to be someone that can handle the responsibility. And last but not least as an added bonus you will also be receiving a trainer's license and your very own national Pokédex!" The assembly of student's erupted in a loud cheer.

In the middle of the crowd, who were also cheering were Alex, Brendan and Jessica.

"Can you believe it? We have a chance to become trainers." Jessica said filled with excitement.

"I know. This is amazing." Alex replied back.

"Professor Juniper!" Brendan said with a snap of his fingers. "She's a Pokémon researcher from the Unova region that focuses on the origin of Pokémon. I knew I heard her name before."

"It that really what you're thinking about now, not the 'we could be trainer's' thing?" Jessica said

Alex rolled his eyes as they began to argue again.

**/ / /**

Later about fifty students, including Alex, Brendan and Jessica, we seated in one of the larger classrooms.

"Alright Students, your first test will be... an actual test." The teacher said while handing out test sheets. "You have thirty minutes to answer all questions, and the student with the most correct answers will be one of three to receive a Pokémon and become a trainer. Just so you know, the test is all short questions about Pokémon in general and is six pages long."

"This should be easy; it's probably just questions about what is super effective against what and so on." Jessica whispered to Alex who simply sighed.

"You may begin... now!" The teacher said.

Everyone turned over their sheets revealing the first page of the test, Jessica looked down at the first question which read.

_Name two Pokémon that have a base stat total of six hundred._

"Oh boy..." Jessica said having no idea what a base stat total was.

The test was a lot harder than Alex thought it was, he knew Jessica underestimated it but this was about some things he never heard about. Meanwhile Brendan was already on the third page of the test, as he knew most of the answers by heart. After twenty-five minutes have passed, Alex handed in his test and took his seat next to Brendan, who finished fifteen minutes ago, and Jessica, who was only on the second page, was chewing on her pencil.

"Five minutes left." The teacher said.

Jessica decided to give up and just guess the rest of the answers, which she quickly scribbled in.

Once time was up, the students were told to wait while they tallied the results. Ten minutes had passed and the loud speaker made an announcement.

"Well students the first test is over!" Professor Juniper's voice was heard through the speaker. "And it seems we have a tie. The two top scorers with 100% are... Chris Depth and Brendan Forte." The classroom began to cheer for Brendan, they would have cheered for Chris to but he was in a different classroom. It was really no surprise to the students that they won. Chris and Brendan were the biggest bookworms in the school; some could say that they were rivals. But Chris was known to have a bit of a temper. "To decide the winner of the first test, we will have a tie-breaker outside." Juniper said before the intercom cut out.

"Great job Brendan." Alex said to his friend.

"It's not over yet, I still have to beat Chris." Brendan said.

"How'd you do it?" His sister asked. "How did you get every question right?"

Brendan smiled smugly and said. "I told you if you..."

"Before you finish that..." Jessica cut him off "...remember what happened the last the time you told me to read more books?"

Brendan thought about it for a moment. Then his eyes widened in shock and instinctively covered his genitals.

"That's what I thought." Jessica finished causing the room to laugh.

**/ / /**

Later outside, a stage was set up with Brandon and Chris sitting behind two desks with buzzers on them, in front of the desks was screens with number zero in it. To their right was Professor Juniper sitting in a chair with a clipboard in her hand. Chris was a little taller than Brandon and had brown hair that spiked backwards. Blue eyes and his skin was somewhat pale. He was wearing green sweater.

Most of the students had gathered around the stage to see the events of the tie-breaker. Juniper stood up and took a microphone in her hand to address the crowd.

"Alight! To settle the tie-breaker we will simply play a game of trivia, push your buzzer if you know the answer whoever pushes their buzzer first and answers the question correctly gets a point. And whoever had the most points at the end wins, simple right?" Juniper said.

Both Brendan and Chris nodded, understanding the easy rules.

"Then let's get started right away!" She said excitedly. "Question one: What egg groups is Magikarp in?"

Both Chris and Brendan hit their buzzers, but only Brendan's went off signalling that he hit his first.

"That would be the Dragon and Water Two egg groups." He answered.

"Correct!" Juniper said earning Brendan a cheer from the crowd. The screen in front of Brendan's desk changed from number zero to number one showing he earned a point.

"Alright, question two: What are the only two Pokémon that can learn the move Transform naturally?" Juniper asked.

Both of them went for their buzzers again, this time Chris hitting it first.

"The answer is Mew and Ditto." Chris answered.

"Correct!" Juniper said causing the crowd to cheer again and adding a point to Chris's score.

The trivia went on for about fifteen minutes with Brendan and Chris staying even in score. The furthest they got from each other was two points.

"Am I the only one who thinks this is just pointless?" Jessica said.

The score was now even at thirty.

"Okay, we're losing daylight here. So let's just do one more question and whoever gets it is the winner." Juniper said.

Both Brendan and Chris nodded and got ready to press the buzzer. Juniper then flipped to the last page in her clipboard to find the hardest question. She gave a mischievous smile as she looked at it.

"Alright, this is for the win. Final question: what is the first Pokémon in the index order?" Juniper asked.

Both Brendan and Chris instinctively went to press their buzzers, but stopped themselves as they thought of the question.

"They don't have it." Jessica nudged Alex. "They got squat."

Alex looked at his friend, surprised he didn't know the answer. He wondered if he didn't know what the index order was. Alex was right as Brendan and even Chris had never heard of the index order. Juniper was still grinning as she knew that few people knew of the index order.

"We're waiting." Juniper said playfully.

"Well you gave us a question that we've never heard of..." Chris said.

"Welcome to my world." Jessica mumbled.

... not only that but it's really fu..."

"Chris watch your mouth!" One of the teachers interrupted him.

Chris grumbled and pressed his buzzer angrily.

"And what do you think the answer is?" Juniper asked, clearly having fun with this.

"Bulbasaur." Chris said bluntly.

"Incorrect, you'd be surprised how many people think that." Juniper said. "It's all you Brendan."

Brendan hasn't thought this hard in a long time. "I_ know Bulbasaur is the first in national order and Kanto order, but what about index order. Is it anther region? No, I never heard of it. Indexes are used to catalogue things, usually in alphabetical order. But that only applied to certain things and this was not one of them. Could it be catalogued in an order they were found, no that would be Bulbasaur again. Maybe the oldest known Pokémon, that would be a fossil or a legendary so it barley narrows it down. No, it wouldn't be that. Something to with origins perhaps. That would lead to Arceus but that is too obvious, plus Arceus it still not proven. Something to do with the beginning, the first Pokémon that 'something' that's what I need to figure out. Pokémon have changed over time, including their process of evolution. Fossil Pokémon haven't changed much and some other Pokémon that can live a long time. Maybe a Pokémon that hasn't changed in all that time."_

"_All known fossil Pokémon are part rock type and rock types are known to live a long time. There are a few Pokémon, aside from the fossils, that were recorded in imagery and haven't changed. Going as far back as cave markings... wait. I read once of the oldest drawing of recorded Pokémon, that had an order to. It was the first record in order of when they were discovered. The index is order is the origin of which Pokémon was the first ever discovered and also recorded and that Pokémon is..."_

Brandon hit his buzzer and said. "The answer is... Rhydon."

The crowd looked to Juniper, waiting to hear her response.

"That is... correct!" Juniper gladly announced. The crowd erupted in a cheer for Brandon. "Congratulation Brendan, you are the winner of the first test and you will be one of the three to receive a Pokémon."

At the same time Chris stormed off the stage, clearly angry about this loss. But the people who knew him knew he'd get over it eventually.

"Alight people, we shall begin the second test now." Juniper said. "Somewhere in this town is an Eevee wearing a small red scarf, the one who catches him and brings him here is the winner. Everyone but Brendan can participate. Good luck!"

**/ / /**

Alex and Jessica were walking together through Beacon town, keeping an eye opening for an Eevee.

"Alight here's the plan." Jessica said. "We can't let Brendan have all the fun so we're going to win the rest of this thing so we can all go on an adventure."

"That's not really a plan, more like a desire." Alex said.

Ya ya, just keep a look out for that Eevee." Jessica quickly said. "So what kind of Pokémon do you think Juniper would be offering?"

"Well, normally the professors give Chimchar, Turtwig, and Piplup as starters in Sinnoh. But Brandon did say she was from the Unova region so I'm not sure if that will be the case." Alex said.

Good point, but still it would be..." Jessica stopped suddenly.

"Jessica, you okay?" Alex asked.

Jessica walked over to the grass on the side and crouched down to examine it.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I think these tracks belong to Eevee." Jessica examined.

"Tracks?" Alex said asked confused.

"The grass here has small indents in it, small enough for an Eevee's footprint." She said.

"How can you tell it belongs to an Eevee?" He asked.

"Eevee's have three toes and its foot is roughly the size of my wrist... plus there is an Eevee right over there." Jessica pointed to an Eevee walking in the yard. To which she immediately sprinted to.

The Eevee heard the sound of her coming and turned around to see what the sound was. Only to be immediately picked up by Jessica. The Eevee stared to struggle in an attempt to get away from this stranger to him.

"Yes! I got him!" Jessica yelled excitedly.

"Um, Jessica?" Alex tried to tell her something.

"I'm going to become a trainer at last." She continued to cheer herself on.

"Jessica..."

"Eevees are so cute; maybe Juniper will let me take this one." She said as she began to nuzzle against Eevee's cheek.

"Jessica that's not..."

"I wonder what he'll evolve into maybe a Flareon or a Jolteon..."

"Jessica!" Alex shouted.

"What?" She asked finally hearing him.

"I don't think that's the Eevee we're looking for." Alex said.

"What? How do you know." She asked somewhat angrily.

"He's not wearing a red scarf..." Alex said.

Jessica looked at the Eevee's neck to find no fabric of clothing anywhere. The Eevee looked at Jessica with an angry look on his face.

"... and I don't think his mother is very happy with you." Alex finished.

Jessica looked behind her to see an Espeon glaring at her.

"Oh, woops" she said as she gently put the Eevee down who then ran to his mother. "Guess I got so excited I didn't notice that." She said as she scratched the back of her head.

"Ya, I guess..." Alex was cut off by the sound of shouting and footsteps.

Alex and Jessica looked behind them to see about twenty of their fellow students chasing after an Eevee wearing a red scarf down the street.

"Oh crap!" Both of them yelled and chased after the crowd.

The students were following close behind the Eevee, the Eevee sometimes slowed down a bit just to give them false hope seeing as he was clearly faster than any of them. Eevee was laughing as he ran, clearly having fun with this game of chase. Alex and Jessica were behind the crowd but having a hard time getting around them. Jessica then noticed them getting near Alex's house and got an idea.

"This road makes a turn that cuts a bit into the forest, if we go through the forest by your house we can cut them off." Jessica said. Alex nodded and turned with Jessica towards his house.

Gardevoir was walking away from the berry garden with a freshly picked Sitrus berry in her hand. She was about to take a bite out of it but then heard the crowd of students. She looked on the street to see them chasing the Eevee with a big smile on his face. She then saw Alex and Jessica turn and start running towards her.

"Hi Gardevoir." Alex said as he passed her.

"Bye Gardevoir." Jessica said as she passed her.

Gardevoir watched them run into the forest very fast. She just stood there and scratched her head in confusion. But she shrugged it off and took a bite from her berry.

**/ / /**

"Wait stop!" Jessica put her arm in front of Alex to stop him as the reach the edge of the forest. "There's the road, now we just wait."

"Alright, I think I can hear them." Alex said as the shouting got louder.

In a few second the Eevee appeared around the corner in their sites, they got ready to jump once he was close enough.

"Three... Two..." Before Jessica could finish her countdown the Eevee suddenly jump into the bush on the side of the road. Alex and Jessica just stood there confused, but then they saw the crowd come around the corner. And run right pass them and the Eevee in the bush without even noticing. Once the crowd was out of site and the shouting died down the Eevee jumped out of the bush. He looked down the road to see he got away from them and gave a smug look of satisfaction, as if congratulating himself on a job well done. He turned and walked back the way he came.

"Clever little guy isn't he?" Alex said.

"We'll see who's cleverer." Jessica said, excited about a challenge. "Okay, you sneak as close behind him as you can. I'll cut around him in the forest and get in front of him. That way we have him trapped."

Alex nodded and, as quietly as he could, stepped out of the forest and slowly approached the Eevee that was walking away. Jessica went a little deeper into eh forest to make her harder to see, since she spent a lot of time playing in the forest she was used to the terrain and thus could minimize her noise. Alex could only see Jessica in the forest because he knew she was there, he watched as she made her way father ahead then the Eevee. Alex was getting close but didn't notice a small pothole in the road. He stepped into it and his foot hit the ground harder than before. The impact of the shoe and the ground caught the Eevee's attention. He turned around to see Alex awkwardly standing there. He simply smiled and stuck his tongue out at Alex before running away.

Jessica then dove out of the forest, even doing a combat roll and landed crouched down in front of the Eevee. The Eevee gave a look of shock before coming to a skidding halt right in front of Jessica. She reached out in an attempt to grab him but Eevee managed to jump backwards. Jessica quickly got up and Alex got closer behind the Eevee.

"Nowhere to run now." Jessica said proudly.

Eevee looked around frantically, looking for a chance to escape. His eyes turned to the forest and a smile grew on his face. Alex jumped for Eevee but he simply dashed to his right and into the forest.

"Crap, come on Alex. After him!" Jessica said as she picked Alex up by his shirt collar and pulled him into the forest.

Eevee was now regretting coming into the forest as he had to run around tree roots and rocks while his pursuers could simply go over then. They were quickly catching up, but at the same time he could easily zigzag out of their reach. This caused Alex and Jessica to maintain a set speed to they don't get beside him as he could turn and throw them off. They were now practically in a deadlock.

"Get ahead of him." Jessica said to Alex, clearly attempting to trap Eevee again.

Alex ran around Eevee and kept looking behind him to make sure he was still in front of him. But Jessica knew what was ahead as she had been here before. Alex noticed downward slope ahead of them, and now knew what Jessica was thinking. Eevee, being so small, didn't see the slope and was surprised when he saw Alex disappear down in the ground, but his mystery was soon solved as he began to slide down the slope. Alex reached the bottom first and looked up to see Eevee and Jessica sliding close behind.

Eevee couldn't stop sliding and he was practically going to land in Alex's arms. He focused his legs into a position and just as Alex went to grab him, Eevee jump right over Alex. Jessica saw this and quickly reacted by jumping too. She caught Eevee in mid air and crashed to the ground.

Alex rushed over to her. "Are you okay?"

"Better than okay, I got him." She said while holding the Eevee up.

He struggled in her grip attempting to get away.

"Aw don't be like that." She pulled him in a close embrace and scratched his belly with her free hand; being ticklish there he began to laugh. "Oh so you're ticklish there, well I guess I'll keep doing this until you behave."

Eevee kept laughing begging her to stop, which she did. Eevee stopped laughing and snuggled in Jessica's embrace, accepting the game was over.

Alex smiled and said. "Alight let's head back now."

"You bet!" Jessica said excitedly.

**/ / /**

They were now walking back to the school with the Eevee in Jessica's arms; they were about half way there now.

"So you and Brandon are both going to be trainers now." Alex said.

"And you had better win the next test so we can all be, or I'll make you regret it." Jessica said.

Alex chuckled. "Just keep adding pressure to it that will help me."

As they turned the corner on the street they saw the same crowd that they saw chasing the Eevee walking towards them.

"Hey look, she has the Eevee!" One of the students said and pointed at Jessica.

"Sorry, tough luck everyone." Jessica smugly said to them, causing the crowd to let out an 'awwwww'.

"Wait, no one ever said we couldn't take the Eevee after it's been caught." One of the students said.

The crowd then turned to look at Jessica all with devious smiles on their faces. Alex, Jessica and even Eevee all had worried looks on their faces.

"Oh crap." Jessica said.

"Get them!" They all yelled as they ran at them.

Alex and Jessica ran in the opposite direction. They turned right down a street to get back on track towards the school. The students were still hot on their trail. The crowd was starting to fall behind them as both Alex and Jessica were much faster than any of them. Alex was fast but despite his increased speed and stamina from playing chase with Gardevoir, Jessica was still faster than Alex. But without the use of her arms and carrying the weight of Eevee slowed her down to Alex's level.

"At this rate we should make it to the school before they reach us." Jessica said.

"Guess we're good then." Alex said.

As soon as he finished saying that, from just around the corner came about ten more students, blocking their path to the school and running towards them. Alex and Jessica skidded to a stop and turned a corner to the right, throwing them off the path to the school.

"You just had to open your mouth!" Jessica shouted at Alex.

Alex grunted in response and continued to run. Alex looked behind him to see the students still chasing him, but a little less than before. It was possible that they got left behind, but they were already tricked walked into an ambush once and barley got out of it. They would probably do it again and it would only be a matter of time before they got surrounded and trapped. Alex knew he had to get Jessica out of here with Eevee if she was going to win, so he quickly thought of something.

"Jessica, I got an idea." Alex said to her.

"What is it?" She asked.

"When we turn the next corner, you go and hide in an alleyway behind something. Then they'll follow me." Alex explained.

"So basically you'll divert them." Jessica said understanding.

Alex nodded "Pretty much."

"Alright, let's do it." Jessica said.

They turned the nearest corner and as soon as Jessica got the chance she leaped to the left between two houses and hid behind a crate that was there. Alex kept running, looking behind him to see the students turn the corner and continue to pursue him. Jessica could hear the crowd of students pass her and chase after Alex. She emerged from her hiding place once she could no longer hear the shouting. She looked down both sides of the street to see no one. With Eevee still in her arms she continued to run to the school.

Alex was still ahead of the crowd with a smile on his face, happy that Jessica got away. As he expected some more students attempted to cut him off as Alex saw them round the corner. Alex simply turned left, but only to be put in front of even more students in his way. Alex stopped in his tracks and turned around, only for the rest of the students to end up behind him. With about twenty students in front and behind him and buildings on his sides, Alex was now trapped.

One of the students stepped forward. "Alright Alex give us the Eevee."

Alex just smiled. "What Eevee?"

"The one your holdi..." He stopped as realization hit him.

Alex just laughed. "It really took you all this long to figure out I'm not holding anything, no wonder Brendan won the first test."

The students stood there, dazed by the fact that they were tricked so easily.

"Back to the school!" Some of them shouted and they all began to run past Alex and towards the school.

Alex figured Jessica would be back there by now and ran with the crowd.

**/ / /**

Alex and the students arrived at the school to see Jessica standing on the stage next to Juniper with Eevee in her arms.

"Took you all long enough." She said gleefully.

"We have a winner of the second test! Jessica!" Juniper announced. "So you will be receiving your Pokémon once the third and final test is over."

Jessica nodded to Juniper and set Eevee down. She proceeded to jump of the stage and walk over to Alex.

"My hero returns." She said before hugging him. "Thanks for helping me back there."

"I know you would have done the same for me." Alex said hugging her back.

"Clearly you don't know me very well." She joked, earning a chuckle from Alex.

"Alright, let's get the third and final test started right away!" Juniper said to the rest of the students. "This test will kind of be like the last one, but will be much harder. Please reveal yourself sir."

As she said that last part a Pokémon appeared from a teleport on to the stage, making some of the students gasp at this surprise. This Pokémon was yellow in most parts of its body, with its chest, shoulders, forearms, and knee caps covered in what looked like brown armor. Its body was that of a skinny human structure but had the head of a Jackal; it bore a large mustache that hanged to its chest. In each of its hands were two large spoons. Its face also bore winkles as a result of its age. This Pokémon was an Alakazam and he looked very elderly and powerful. The Alakazam was wearing a red pendant around his neck.

"Your objective this time is simple, get the pendant from Alakazam. You can do this in any way you want." Juniper said.

"So we just catch him?" One of the students asked.

"Well you can try but..." Juniper said as Alakazam vanished in the blink of an eye with a teleport. "... that's probably impossible. He has mastered the art of teleporting. And what's more he can detect where everyone is this town and even further. So unless you're a Dark type Pokémon, he will know where you are at all times. He has been instructed to remain in the town. Whoever gets the pendant from him wins. Good luck." Juniper just smiled deviously at this.

The students began to converse on what to do, sneaking up on him wasn't an option and there was no way to catch him.

"Oh, and one more thing." Juniper said before anyone left. "You're not allowed to take the pendant from someone once it has already been obtained, for goodness sake people I thought you were better sports than that." Juniper said angrily as she had heard what happened to Jessica.

The students that went after Jessica had a disappointed look on their faces as she said that. The students began to leave the area to find Alakazam.

"Oaky Alex, last chance." Jessica said while poking him. "You get out there and win this thing or I will never let you forget what I will do to you. No pressure!"

Alex sighed at his friend. "Thanks, I'll do my best."

**/ / /**

It had been about ten minutes since Alex left the school, the sky was coated an orange colour as the sun was starting to set. He was walking alone down the street, not really having a plan for this. At the same time Gardevoir wasn't too far away following him. She got curious to what was going on. She sensed Alex, Jessica and the rest of the students run through the streets with the Eevee in Jessica's arms, then they all ended up at the school and now they suddenly left. Jessica stayed behind though which Gardevoir found odd. She then decided to ask Alex what was going on. She wasn't sure how to approach him on this but figure the direct way would do. He was alone now on the road, so the least she could do was keep him company. Or even better help him if she could. She continued to sense Alex's movements; they didn't seem to have a direction or plan, just going in random directions. She picked up her pace a bit to catch up to Alex.

Gardevoir's face suddenly hit something and she was thrown to the ground by some force. She was surprised by this and grunted as she got back up. She looked forward and saw nothing. Cautiously she walked forward while holding her arm out. After a few steps her arms was pushed back by the same force. She carefully poked her finger forward and felt it again. She sharpened her senses in the area and recognized the sense in front of her. It was a Psychic barrier, and a very strong one. But at the same time she couldn't even see it, normally you could see barriers like this but whoever made this knew what he or she was doing. Gardevoir wasn't sure what to do know, but then she thought of something. She senses the area inside the barrier and sure enough Alex was right in the middle of it. As Alex walked the barrier moved with him slowly, keeping him in the center. But someone else was there, an entity far more powerful than Gardevoir.

Gardevoir started to worry, unsure of what this entity wanted to do with Alex. But in case it went bad she wanted to be there to protect him. She had to help her friend. Gardevoir put her hands together and teleported; only appear right where she was standing before. The Barrier blocked her from teleporting. Gardevoir forcefully slammed her shoulder into the barrier, only to be pushed back. She then launched a Shadow ball at the barrier, only for it to be absorbed. Gardevoir then felt the presence of the powerful entity rise up. It was aware that she was trying to break in. The barrier flashed a black colour for a split second the Gardevoir could no longer sense Alex. Everything inside the barrier was blacked from her senses. Gardevoir growled out of frustration and continued her assault on the barrier.

**/ / /**

Inside the barrier, Alex was completely unaware of its presence. Not really knowing what to do, catching Alakazam was out of the question, he would have to be about ten times smarter than Brendan to even try to trick him and there was no way he could sneak up on him. Juniper did say it could be done in any way they want, but what else could they do.

"_Maybe a more civil approach, like maybe I could try talking to him." _Alex thought.

"_I wouldn't mind a talk." _A deep voice echoed in his head.

Alex stopped moving, knowing that voice didn't belong to him. But he heard it in his mind; he looked around in case he just mistook it for someone around him. But he saw no one around. Alex saw the street deserted, which he now found strange. All he could hear now was the wind and his own breathing.

"Hello?" Alex asked out loud.

There was no answer. Alex kept looking around, feeling like he was not alone. He still thought it was rather odd that no one else was in the street; he should at least hear some other people's voices. But the street was deserted; it was just Alex standing there.

"Guess I imagined it." Alex said to himself.

"_Guess again." _The same voice said.

Alex stopped and spun around quickly to see where the voice was coming from. His eyes stopped at a figure across the street, causing Alex to jump out of surprise as he could have swore that figure wasn't there before. After taking a breath, Alex looked at the figure. He recognized it as the Alakazam that he was suppose to be searching for, was standing across the street looking right at him.

"Geez, you scared me." Alex said while taking a breath.

"_My apologies." _The powerful psychic said.

The two just stared at each other for a few moments, neither taking their gaze of each other. Alex was unsure of why Alakazam had suddenly shown himself, wasn't he suppose to keep the pendant from him and the other students. Juniper did say that they could use any means to get it from him but for him to just appear in front of Alex like this, it didn't make sense.

"Was that your voice I heard?" Alex asked, already knowing the answer.

"_Yes, I'm speaking to your mind with telepathy." _ Alakazam answered.

"Telepathy? I've heard of it, but this is my first time experiencing it." Alex said.

"_I'm surprised, considering there is a number of psychic types in this town and not one is capable of telepathy." _

"I wouldn't know that for sure, but if they do none have ever talk to me like that."

"_I suppose it's much harder to learn these days." _

"Is it difficult to learn?" Alex asked.

"_Yes, granted psychic types do have an easier time to learn it due them already being adapted to telekinetic abilities. But every living being is capable of learning it. It is however very difficult to learn and even harder to master than you might think. But once it is mastered, it becomes as easy as talking normally." Alakazam explained. _

"I see." Alex said, thinking about whether or not Gardevoir knows telepathy. But if she did she probably would have used it on him by now.

"_Mind if I asked your name?" _Alakazam asked.

"Can't you just read my mind or something to find it out?"

"_I respect one's privacy."_

"...my name is Alex, mind if I ask your name?"

"_I go by the name Apollo." _ He said.

Alex wondered if that name was given to him by Juniper, or if he had given it to himself or by some other means. He wasn't sure if Pokémon gave themselves names, he did find it weird that humans gave names to wild Pokémon that they caught. It could be possible that they did have names before, but they could just tell humans due to not being able to understand. It was a bit weird to call a Pokémon by its species name, as it could be confusing if they were more than one in the same place. He then thought if maybe Gardevoir had a name this whole time and he just didn't know it.

"Okay Apollo, what's this about?" Alex asked

"_What do you mean?"_

"Why did you just show up like this? I'm pretty sure I'm the one suppose to be finding you, or did I miss something?" Alex said.

Apollo chuckled a bit. _"I just want to talk, simple as that."_

"But why talk to me, about what?"

"_I find you... intriguing." _Apollo said; he began to walk down the street as he continued. _"Your mind is... 'balanced' would be a good way to put it."_

Alex started to walk down the street following him. The two began to walk at the same speed on opposite sides of the street. "What happened to respecting one's privacy?"

"_Reading one's mind and examining one's mind are two different things." _Apollo said with a grin on his face. _"You think see everyone as an equal part in life, yet you put everyone ahead of yourself. You do things to make yourself better, but you'd give up those opportunities to better others. You wish to develop your own species abilities, at the same time you wish to learn and act like others. You see me as just another being in this world, and wish to treat me like your treat yourself and others. You see and are both sides of a coin." _

"Really opening up my self-conscious aren't you." Alex said.

"_It's why I find you intriguing; I'm surprised you're taking this so well. Most people would be a little intimated or frightened by this."_

"Well, I'm used to having a psychic type around me..."

"_Ah yes, the Gardevoir I presume." _Apollo cut him off.

Alex was a little surprised that he knew of Gardevoir. Juniper did say he could sense everyone in the town. But how he was able to know him and Gardevoir were friends was a little bit of a shock. His powers were much more powerful than Alex realized.

"How do you know that?" Alex asked.

"_How should I put this, you have traces of her psychic scent on you... in a matter of speaking." _Apollo tried to explain.

Alex guessed it was something like Gardevoir's life energy, or aura as he heard it was called, was left on him from them spending so much time together. The fact that they sleep together probably added to that. As Apollo couldn't seem to explain it very well, Alex decided to not ask more about it.

"As I was saying, when Gardevoir is around me sometimes I think I can feel her emotions radiating from her. So psychics are something I'm used to being around and feeling."

"_Yes the Ralts-line species have a unique talent with emotions. If you can feel them, I believe that means she trusts you with her life."_

"Well considering I did save her life once..."

"_No, it's more than that." _Apollo cut him off. _"It's not like some debt that one owes you, a Gardevoir's trust is something that is rarely earned by another species. Gardevoir's avoid all negative emotion as best they can, for they can be forced to feel them themselves. In doing this they will radiate it and cause others to feel it as well. This can cause damage mentally to their minds as they will adapt and change to the emotion, sometimes permanently. This is why the Ralts-line is attracted to positive emotions, like joy and happiness, in a way they feed off these emotions to keep their stable."_

Alex didn't realize how serious this was. "Is it really that bad?"

"_Think about it. Being forced to feel sadness, anger, and despair all at once. A Gardevoir sometimes can keep it under control sometimes. But there are times when it can be... overwhelming. Having a Gardevoir trust you means that she knows your mind is pure, safe to be around. A reliable fallback in case she can't control her own emotions. She knows you won't intentionally hurt her, she can depend on you and in return she will guard you with her life." Apollo explained. _

Alex knew that Gardevoirs sacrifice themselves for those they care about, but he just couldn't think of Gardevoir doing that for him.

"So can she not have her own emotions?" He asked.

"_Of course she can but her species can feel and radiate emotions which can be taken over by them from an external source, hence why they seek positive minds like yours. Don't think of her as if she's using you as some tool, she cares for your well being and will not do this if you don't want to. Keep in mind your emotions can be changed and she knows and accepts that." _

"So why do all this then? If you can be overtaken by negative emotions then why develop such ability." Alex asked, his curiosity rising.

"_Well I'm not a Gardevoir so I don't know for sure. But my theory is that they can in turn send out emotions and make a balance. Doesn't it feel good when you feel her positive emotions?"_

"Yes, it does" Alex said remembering the warm feeling from Gardevoir. "But was I a good choice?"

"_I think you are; you don't give into negative emotions easily." _ Apollo said.

"Everyone is capable of doing wrong. But at the same time right and wrong are opinion based, and no matter what some people will disagree with your opinion." Alex said.

"_There's that balance mind I was talking about. But like I said you don't give into negative emotions easily, today is a very good example."_

"How so?" Alex asked.

"_You helped your friend Jessica escaped with the young Eevee, sacrificing yourself in the process. Had it been a grimmer situation you may have not come out of there unharmed. You could have run away and saved yourself. At the same time you could have taken advantage of the situation and took Eevee for yourself. But you didn't, you avoided the emotions of greed and cowardly and replaced them with courage and sympathy."_ Apollo said.

"Wouldn't you do the same for a friend?"

"_Indeed, but that's beside the point."_

The street they were waling upon was approaching a dead end in the road. They had both lost track of how long they were talking. However both were enjoying the lost time they walked on the opposite ends of the street.

"_Another example is that during this entire time we were here, you never once attempted to take or even ask for this pendant."_ Apollo said while twitching the pendant with one of his fingers.

Alex looked over at him to see the pendant, having completely forgotten what he was even doing out here in the first place.

He chuckled in response and looked at the sky. "Guess I got wrapped up so much in our conversation I forgot."

"_Indeed, be sure not to forget things that easy on your journey."_

Alex quickly turned his head to Apollo, but he was gone. Just as quickly as he appeared the Alakazam had disappeared. Alex stopped walking to think about what just happened, but as he stopped he felt something on his neck. Alex looked down to see the red pendant that Apollo was wearing hanging on his neck. He now had the pendant; he passed the final test and will now become a trainer. Alex wanted to thank Apollo but he figured he already knew how he felt. Alex turned around to begin walking towards the school, but could see a figure in the distance making its way towards him. Soon Alex could make it out to be Gardevoir running, or in her case levitating, towards him.

She quickly reached Alex and wrapped him in a hug, which Alex returned but was still surprised to see her. Gardevoir pulled away from Alex and looked over his body. Inspecting it to see if he was harmed in anyway, as the entity she sensed had disappeared as soon as the barrier had. She wanted to see if Alex was okay.

Alex noticed her worry. "Relax Gardevoir, I'm fine."

Gardevoir took his word for it, but was still worried for him. Alex, thinking about what Apollo said to him, thought positive and took Gardevoir's hand.

"Come on, let's head to the school." He said as they walked into the setting sun.

**...**

**Okay I have two things to say to everyone.**

**First, and I'm going to try to be nice about this, when you review I would appreciate more than just "Update soon" or "I want the next one" and so on.**

**While I like the fact you want to read more and you want me to update, I would like to hear more than that. What did you like? What didn't you like and why? What can I improve upon? Or even some (positive) constructive criticism they're called reviews for a reason people. I'm not saying you don't need to go all professional on me, just what were you thoughts on this chapter or the story so far. I'm trying not to sound like a jerk about this but I needed to get this out there.**

**Sorry if that was mean to you in any way, maybe this will make you feel better.**

**Throughout the story Alex will get a team of Pokémon, now I've thought of five of the members but I'm having trouble picking the sixth and final member. So I thought why not let you readers help me out. Just leave your idea for a team member in the reviews and I'll think about it. I'll even allow legendaries, but nothing too much like Zekrom or something. Who knows, you may be responsible for a key character in this series. Just keep in mind it won't happen for a while.**

**Once again sorry this took awhile. College is taking some time out of this, but I think I can have more time now but no promises.**


	7. Battle and a decision

**So far I've gotten a few suggestions about the sixth member. While I still haven't decided, I'm thinking about all of them. Who knows, you may have suggested a member that was already on the team in the first place. But I'll never tell ;P**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.**

**...**

**(Alex's POV)**

Me and Gardevoir we're heading towards the school now, the red pendant around my neck that I received from Apollo after our conversation. With this pendant in my possession now I had passed the first test and could now become a Pokémon trainer. Apollo seemed confident that I was a good natured person and gave me the pendant for that reason, at least that's what I think. What I really kept thinking about was what he told me about Gardevoir though. We have been friends for a while now, but I never thought she trusts me that much. I knew not long after I met her that her species were attracted to positive emotions, but I had no idea they were that essential to their lives. I wouldn't know what it feels like to be overwhelmed by negative emotions but if it's as dangerous as it sounds then it can't be good. Would Gardevoir only be happy when I'm happy, and when I'm sad will she be sad? Apollo did say that she has her own feelings but they are just affected by those around them. But just how much could one person affect her emotions like that. I doubt my emotions alone could overwhelm her, but to rely on me if she does get overwhelmed by negative emotions. It feels like I'm her lifeline or something like that, a burden that can be a heavy weight.

I looked over to Gardevoir, and I could see the smile on her face as she walked with me. Seeing her smile just gave me pleasant feelings every time I saw it. She could literally have me feel her own emotions, and I do get a warm soothing feeling when she feels happy. But I really can't tell the difference sometimes if it's just me or her own feelings added to mine. Gardevoir noticed me staring at her and looked at me.

"Gardevoir?" She said while holding her hand out, asking for me to take it.

I held my hand to hers which made her smile grow more and added a little giggle to it. I couldn't help but smile back. She always liked to hold on to me in some way, usually with hugs. Guess she is known as the embrace Pokémon for a reason. Thinking about it now, if all I need to do to keep her emotions safe was to have positive emotions. I guess it wouldn't be much of a burden just to think positive around her.

"Devoir, Gar?" She said while pointing at the red pendant around my neck.

"Oh, this?" I said while taking holding of it. "I got this from an Alakazam named Apollo; this means I passed the final test."

Gardevoir simply cocked her head in confusion. I then remembered that she had no idea what was going on.

"Oh right, you don't know. There's this event going on at the school which involves three tests." I started to explain, Gardevoir nodded in understanding. "Whoever passed the test or did the best would be one of the three to win. The first test was a test of knowledge which Brendan won, not much of a surprise really. I guess the second test was a test of ability which I helped Jessica win."

"Voir Gardevoir!" Gardevoir said happily that her two other friends won the tests.

I looked down at the red pendant that showed I won the final test. "But, I'm not sure what the final test was supposed to be. Whatever it was I must have done it right."

I did think that Apollo gave it to me because he thought I was a good person. But was that really what the test was about? "But anyways, Jessica Brendan and I have all passed the tests."

"Gar voir Gardevoir?" She asked me.

"What do we get for passing?" I asked thinking that was her question. She nodded her head to confirm it.

I held my head my head high and looked to the sky, mostly out of pride from what we've accomplished. "Passing this test allows me and the others to become Trainers. Professor Juniper is going to give us a starter Pokémon, a Pokédex and hopefully some Pokéballs too. We're going to become trainers, go on adventures and see the world. It will be so much fun." I was expecting Gardevoir to make a joyful sound or maybe even a hug. But nothing came. After a few seconds of this I stopped looking at the sky and at Gardevoir to see her face had changed. Her smile was gone and her face was replaced with sadness mixed with disappointment.

"Gardevoir?" I said.

She turned away from me, avoiding eye contact with me. She even let go of my hand. Did I say something to offend her?

"What's wro..."I was interrupted by getting tackled to the ground by someone.

"You did it!" An all too familiar voice shouted as she tackled me.

Jessica landed on top of me as we fell to the ground. I could see Brendan walking over to us as well.

She took the red pendant in her hand. "Yes, we can all be trainers now!" she said excitedly.

"Not if you keep tackling him like that." Brendan said.

"It builds resistance!"

"You're missing the point!"

I wasn't in the mood to hear them bicker over something. I groaned to get their attention, which worked perfectly.

"Mind getting off me?" I said to Jessica.

As she got off me and I got up with her I noticed that Gardevoir was gone.

"Where did Gardevoir go?" I said.

Jessica looked around. "Don't know, she was here a second ago."

"She teleported." Brendan said. "Just after you were tackled by my sister."

"But why?"

"Well you know that Gardevoir doesn't really like crowds." Jessica said.

Crowds? I looked around to see that I was at the school now. Many students were back now, not sure how they knew to come back since I won but they were here. I could see Juniper walking over to us. I didn't even notice that we reached the school, Apollo was right; I really need to pay more attention.

"Ya, I guess." I said in a low tone.

I knew for sure that Gardevoir didn't leave because of the people. Something is wrong with her, she's upset about something. I just can't figure out what it is though. Jessica and Brendan both saw that something was up with me; they looked like they were going to say something but Juniper stopped next to us and started talking.

"We have a winner!" She announced to the crowd. "Congratulations Alex."

The crowd let out a cheer for me, Jessica and Brendan started clapping next to me. I know this should be a great moment for me, but Gardevoir was still on my mind. I had never seen her like this before; it couldn't have been my own emotions affecting her like Apollo said they could. I knew I needed to find out what was wrong but I had no idea where to look. I guess I could take care of that later, once this event was done and I was a trainer. Wait, how did Juniper know my name anyways?

"Excuse me Professor Juniper." I said, getting her attention. "How do you know my name?"

"Oh, Apollo came by and told me. I then sent out my assistants to tell everyone it was over and gather here so we could congratulate you." Juniper explained.

Well that also answered my previous question on how the students knew to come back.

"Well now, the three of you come with me." Juniper said.

Juniper began to walk towards the stage that Brendan and Chris had their competition for the first test. We followed her, all of us eager for what was in store for us. We went onto the stage with her; she grabbed a silver briefcase and turned to the crowd.

"Well that's it everyone! I present our three winners who will now become Pokémon trainers. Alex, Brendan and Jessica!" Juniper announced to the crowd.

The crowd cheered to congratulate us in our success. I stood proud with my friends, really hoping this wasn't just some dream right now. Juniper then turned to us.

"Okay, now you three have a choice. You can wait till tomorrow to think about what Pokémon you..."

"Oh no, we're doing this as soon as possible. Like right now!" Jessica interrupted Juniper.

"... Someone's enthusiastic." Juniper said with a bit of a chuckle. "What do you two think?"

Brendan and I looked at each other; we could tell both of us we're thinking the same thing.

"In the seldom case I agree with my sister, I say the sooner the better." Brendan said.

"It would give us the night to get to know our new friends." I added to that.

Juniper smiled. "Well okay then, first things first." She opened the briefcase and took out three red rectangular devices. "Here is a national Pokédex for each of you, the registry was already completed while we were waiting for Alex to arrive. The Pokédex will tell you almost everything you need to know about all known Pokémon and comes with a map and an X-transceiver built in it."

She handed us each a Pokédex, each of us opened it to look through. Once I opened it the screen showed my picture and all my information. There seemed to be a lot of other features too but I'll play around with those later.

"Also to give you three a little help, take these as well." Juniper handed each of us five Pokéballs so we could catch other Pokémon. "And now the part you've been waiting for..." Juniper showed us the inside of the briefcase to reveal three more Pokéballs. Each having a Pokémon inside for use to choose. Juniper took one of the Pokéballs in her hand.

"First up is one you should be familiar with in this region..." The ball opened with a red light that began to materialise on the stage floor. As the light faded it revealed a small figure, the back of its round head was coloured a dark blue that curved into a light blue onto its face until it's reached its yellow beak the rest of its face was white minus the round blue eyes. The dark blue of its body seemed to form a cape on its back while the rest of its body was a light blue with two white circles near the top of it. Two flippers came out of its sides that acted as arms and it had small yellow feat. Juniper was right we did recognize this one. "... the water Pokémon Piplup."

"Pip, Piplup." The little water type said happily.

"And coming from the west, all the way from Hoenn is..." The second ball opened, the red light took shape of a small round red feathered figure with no arms. Yellow feathers were along its neck and on top of its round head. Like Piplup it had a beak and round blue eyes. With two triple digit talon feet. I had never been to Hoenn before, but I knew this Pokémon. "... the fire Pokémon Torchic."

"Chic, Torchic." The fire type chirped.

"And last but certainly not least, from my home region of Unova is..." Juniper opened the final ball. The red light materialized into a small slender figure with a bit of a curve to its body. The back side was covered in green along with its small arms. With a tail that took the shape of a leaf on the end. A yellow stripe ran along its back that reached to its eyelids. Two yellow curved parts were coming out from its neck, almost looking like it was wearing a collar. The underside of it was a cream colour that reached the front of its curved head and feet. Its big eyes were that of a ruby colour. I had never seen this Pokémon before. "... the grass Pokémon Snivy."

"Snivy." It crossed its arms and said.

"These are the Pokémon that you can choose from, take your time to think about it." Juniper said.

So these were the Pokémon that we could pick from, not sure if everyone gets to pick with three Pokémon from different regions but that makes it more interesting.

'Ding'

I heard a beeping sound that came from my left. I looked over to Brendan holding his Pokédex and it began to speak with its computer voice.

"**Piplup, the penguin Pokémon."**

"**Gender: female."**

"**Piplup are skilled swimmers that will dive for ten minutes to hunt. They have a large sense of pride that makes them hard to bond with."**

"Hey good idea." Jessica said, she took out her Pokédex and aimed it at Torchic.

"**Torchic, the chick Pokémon."**

"**Gender: male."**

"**Torchic are naturally curious Pokémon and will walk in an unsteady pattern. They have a flame sac in their body that makes them warm."**

Feeling like the others were waiting for me to do finish it, I took out my Pokédex and aimed it at Snivy.

"**Snivy, the grass snake Pokémon."**

"**Gender: female."**

"**Snivy are smart and calm Pokémon that aren't afraid to face bigger foes. Snivy can absorb energy with photosynthesis with its tail. They tend to use their vines more than their hands."**

Snivy did seem like an interesting Pokémon. She has arms and legs despite being a serpent. According to the Pokédex she's calm even when faced with bigger and tougher opponents. Her eyes were the same ruby like colour that Gardevoir had and had the look of determination in them. That and I found them pretty cute looking.

"Well, have you decided yet?" Juniper asked.

We all looked at each other and nodded. We all raised our hands.

"I choose..." We all said in unison. "...You!"

We lowered our hands and pointed at our choices. I pointed at Snivy, Brendan pointed at Piplup, and Jessica pointed at Torchic.

"Well that was easy." Juniper said.

It was a bit of luck that we all chose different Pokémon, at least this way they're be no arguing. And by that I mean between Brendan and Jessica. I looked over to Brendan who was kneeling down to Piplup and examining her.

"You see to be healthy and in perfect condition if you don't mind me saying." He said to Piplup.

She responded puffing up her chest and standing proudly. I could see what Brendan was doing. He was appealing to her large sense of pride like the Pokédex said she had. And it worked like a charm.

"So how about it, partner. Think we can be friends?" He asked her and held out a hand.

Piplup looked at his hand and seemed to think about it. But she soon took his hand with her flipper and shook it. Looks like they we're already at a good start.

"Awwww you're so cute." I heard Jessica say.

I looked over to her to see her holding Torchic in a big hug and she was rubbing her face into hers. I would've said that Torchic was suffocating, but I could see a smile on his face and he was chirping happily.

"You're so cute, soft and warm." Jessica continued to say more things, but I couldn't really make them out.

I looked down to Snivy who was just staring at me. I'm not really sure if she was waiting for me to introduce myself to her or not. But I couldn't really make it out if she cared or not. Her face hasn't changed since she was let out of the ball. Well if we're going to be travelling together, I better at least try to get on her good side. I didn't really know where to begin though seeing as I knew little to nothing about Snivy. But I guess that's one of the reasons why I picked her.

"Hi, my name is Alex." I started. "Not really much to say about me, hopefully we can be good friends."

I reached my hand out to give her a pet on her head. Before I could touch her though she suddenly jumped on my arm and ran up it. She quickly reached my shoulder and gave my cheek a little nuzzle.

"Snivy." She said with a small smile.

I was a little surprised that she suddenly decided to warm up to me. Part of me thought that she was just fooling me with the straight face she was giving me earlier.

"Alright!" Jessica shouted while still holding Torchic. "While we still have some daylight left, let's have a three-way Pokémon battle!"

Juniper was a little surprised by this and looked at us.

"She doesn't know the meaning of the word patience." Brendan said.

"Well we might as well have our first battle now; I see no harm in it." I said.

"Well alright." Juniper said while scratching the back of her head. "Three-way battles aren't really something used by the league in official battles, but I'll still be the referee for you."

We all nodded and went off the stage to a clear area in the school grounds. In this case it was the basketball court. The students crowed around the sides of the area to watch while Juniper stood on a small stand to the side to get a better view. The three of us, or rather six of us, where set up in a triangle formation. Brendan and Piplup were on the other side of the court to my right and Jessica and Torchic were to my left. Snivy jumped off my shoulder once we were in position.

"If you use your Pokédex you can see what moves your Pokémon know, but first you must register them to you by pointing it at their Pokéball." Juniper called out o us.

Guess I better know what Snivy can do before we start this; I took my Pokédex out at her Pokéball first. There was a 'ding' and the screen flashed a picture of Snivy with my name in the owner bar. I then pointed the Pokédex at Snivy. On the bottom screen listed her moves.

**Moves:**

**Vine Whip**

**Tackle**

**Leer**

**Attract**

Guess I expected her to know an only a few moves, but Torchic and Piplup must be in the same boat. What's more is that we have a grass, fire, and water type battling so they cancel each other out. No one has the advantage.

"Okay, you may begin..." Juniper raised her hand.

I looked down at Snivy and she looked up to me.

"You ready?" I asked her.

She nodded and gave me thumbs up.

"...Now!" Juniper shouted and shot her hand down.

**/ / /**

**(Gardevoir's POV)**

I tried not to cry, but I couldn't help it. I was sitting down by some trees off to the side of the school that I teleported to. My face buried into my knees, soaking them with my tears. I don't think I've ever been sadder in my life.

I couldn't believe this was happening. I just wanted to wake up from this nightmare right now. Every part of me wished this was just a dream. But I knew better, this was really happening. Alex, he was going to become a trainer. He was becoming my greatest fear, the thing I hated most in this world. Humans that imprison Pokémon in those dreaded Pokéballs and make them their slaves. And the worst part is that they make them fight to the death for their entertainment. Why would Alex want to do such a horrible thing? I've known him for years and I never seen any indication of this in him. I always saw a pure heart in him, but this is just... beyond cruelness. But now, even after all the time we'll been together, Alex is going to become a trainer and leave me. I didn't know which part was worse, the fact Alex was becoming a trainer or that he was abandoning me. And just to make things even worse Jessica and Brendan were doing it to.

"Okay, you may begin..." I heard the older woman in the white coat say.

I looked out from my hiding spot to see what was happening. I could see Alex, Jessica and Brandon standing with some Pokémon each giving looks of determination at each other. Don't tell me they were going to force those Pokémon to fight already? I checked everyone emotions, all of them were focused on beating each other. This was all happening so fast.

I could feel my cheeks become wet as my tears continued to roll down them. I didn't want to watch but part of me wanted to see what Alex was going to do. I guess I'm hoping that he'll see how wrong this is and turn away from this path.

"...Now!" The woman shouted.

"Alright Torchic, use Ember on Snivy!" Jessica shouted.

I saw the little Torchic run ahead a little to get closer range, then he unleashed a stream of embers towards the Snivy standing by Alex.

"Dodge it!" Alex shouted.

Snivy quickly jumped to her side, avoiding the embers.

"Taking advantage of type, I knew it." Brendan said. "But I plan to take out my biggest threat first. Piplup, use Peck on Snivy!"

The Piplup launched herself towards Snivy, her beck glowed and enlarged. As a flying type move, Peck would be super effective against Snivy. Alex looked over to the incoming attack.

"Snivy, stop it with Leer!" Alex quickly shouted.

Snivy eyes glowed red, and shot a very menacing glare towards Piplup. Piplup stopped dead in her tracks, her beck returned to normal. She looked stunned from the attack.

"Piplup, snap out of it!" Brendan shouted.

"Take advantage of this Torchic! Get in close and hit them both with Scratch!" Jessica shouted.

Torchic began to run towards them both, intending to hit both of them at once. Alex looked towards the attacker.

"Use Vine Whip, throw Piplup into Torchic!" He said.

Two vines shot out of Snivy's collar. They wrapped around the still stunned Piplup and lifted her into the air. Snivy spun around, whipping Piplup around with her. Once she fully turned she released Piplup who proceeded to crash into Torchic. The two Pokémon fell to the ground in a daze. They staggered to get up. They were hurt slightly, but they quickly shook it off.

"Brendan doesn't let him throw your Pokémon at mine." Jessica shouted to Brendan.

"You make it sound like I'm on your team, why would I help you?" He said back.

"Alright then mister 'team player' how did that help you?"

The two continued to argue about things I didn't even bother to hear as I knew it was pointless. I looked to Alex and Snivy whom the latter was giving him a confused look.

"Take my advice, don't get involved." He said, which she responded by shrugging.

I looked down to the field they see Piplup scratching her head with her fin towards while looking at Brendan and Torchic tilting his head to the side while looking at Jessica. I swear, no one will ever figure out how those two can argue so easily.

"Alright that's it, Piplup use pound on Torchic." Brendan said.

Piplup launched herself at Torchic and hit his chest with her feet.

"Why you! Torchic Scratch!" Jessica shouted back.

Torchic recovered from the attack and quickly ran up to Piplup and scratched her fin with his talons. The two continued to shout Pound and Scratch attacks at each other resulting in Torchic and Piplup to get into a frenzy of Pound and Scratch attacks. I'm not sure how but dust clouds started forming around them, with their heads poking out every second or so.

I looked over to Alex and Snivy to see them still standing there, looking like they really weren't sure what to do. Please Alex just look at them fighting, take this opportunity to walk away.

"Well, I should say we should just wait till they exhaust each other." He said, getting Snivy's attention. "But where's the fun in that?" She gave him a smile.

No no no, don't do it Alex!

"Okay get in there and Tackle... one of them." He said while pointing at the dust cloud, not really able to see which one was which.

Snivy dashed ahead towards the dust cloud ready to hit the first one she comes in contact with.

I suppose that's it, Alex has given in. He will become the worst thing a human can be in his world, and there's nothing I can do about it. Maybe I should just leave now and rid myself of this place and everyone here. But I would never forgive myself for that, I should at least say goodbye to Alex... forever.

I could see Snivy jump into the dust cloud, she then appeared out of the other side while tackling Piplup with her. Piplup fell to the ground, clearly exhausted from fighting with Torchic.

"Come on Piplup get up!" Brendan shouted.

Piplup put her fins on the ground and tried to force herself up. And Snivy was... just standing there. Wait why was she doing nothing? Is she letting her get back up? This is a perfect time to take her out, but she's not. Alex was just standing there too, watching it happen. I don't understand, is this showing mercy or something? Piplup finally managed to bring herself up.

"You alright?" Brendan asked her, to which she gave him a salute with her fin.

The dust cloud cleared leaving a confused looking Torchic, probably just realizing that Piplup was gone.

"Torchic use ember on both of them!" Jessica shouted.

Torchic spun around, finally seeing where they were, and shot a stream of Embers that hit both of them. Snivy was attempting to cover her body with her arms to defend herself was the fire attack, while Piplup was practically unfazed being a water type.

Piplup use Peck on Snivy!" Brendan shouted.

Quickly shaking off the embers, Piplup's beak glowed again and she dashed at Snivy who was still recovering from the Ember attack. Piplup hit her in her chest which sent her flying a few feet to the ground. But why did she hit her in the chest, she had a perfectly good opportunity to hit something vital to Snivy, like an eye or even take out one of her legs.

"Keep going Snivy, you can do it." Alex shouted words of encouragement to her like Brendan did.

Snivy started to get up, while Piplup and Brendan just stood there. Again they were just standing there, not taking the opportunity to win this for themselves.

"Might as well make use of our time, Piplup use Bubble of Torchic!" Brendan shouted.

Piplup turned to face Torchic and shot a stream of bubbles at him.

"Counter it with Ember!" Jessica shouted back.

Torchic shot his embers from his beak again. The two attacks collided leaving a small cloud of steam. Snivy was now standing up.

"You good to go?" Alex asked her. She replied by giving him a thumbs up.

"Okay, use Vine Whip! Sweep it across and hit them both!" He shouted.

Snivy released one vine from her collar and whipped it from her left side while extending it. The vine hit both Piplup and Torchic in the cheek sending them flying a few feet. Torchic managed to land on his feet, but Piplup got her face into the ground. She quickly got up though.

This is just weird, it wasn't was I was expecting. Sur they were fighting but it didn't look like anything I thought it would. When they hit each other it didn't look like they were seriously trying to injure each other. They only seemed to hit areas that weren't vital or fragile body parts. They even didn't hit each other while they were knocked down; they gave them a chance to get up. Alex and Brendan even asked if they still wanted to keep fighting. If they said no would they have allowed them to back down? And what's really confusing me is their emotions, they're actually enjoying this. Not in a bloodlust kind of way, but more like it's some kind of game to them. I didn't understand it doesn't look brutal at all. No blood has been shed yet and at the way things are going it doesn't look like any blood will shed at all.

"Alright, no more messing around!" Jessica shouted. "Time to bust out our secret weapon! Torchic use Aerial Ace on Piplup! "

Torchic ran at blinding speed towards Piplup, I could see a white trail form behind him and quickly dissipate. He slammed into Piplup sending her flying into the air and crashing into the ground.

"Piplup!" Brendan shouted.

"Now hit Snivy!" Jessica said.

Torchic dug his talons into the ground to stop himself. Then he quickly turned and launched another Aerial Ace attack at Snivy. Snivy attempted to jump out of the way, but she was hit mid jump and crashed to the ground like Piplup. Snivy took a lot more damage than Piplup did. Aerial Ace was a quick flying type attack that was almost impossible to avoid.

"Snivy!" Alex shouted.

Both Piplup and Snivy were struggling to get up. Their arms, or fins in Piplup's case, were shaking as they forced themselves up. As Snivy stood up I got a good look at her. She looked much more beat up than Piplup did, it didn't look like she could take another attack like that. I looked over to Alex who and his hand on his chin, I didn't need to be psychic to know he was thinking about what to do.

"Alright, let's wrap this up. Torchic finish Snivy off with Aerial Ace!" Jessica shouted.

Torchic charged at Snivy, ready to hit her with another Aerial Ace. I didn't really want to admit it, but there was a part of me that was sad that Alex was going to lose the battle.

"Snivy use Attract!" Alex quickly shouted.

Wait, Snivy knows Attract? Snivy stood up in an elegant pose, and she winked at Torchic. Pink hollow hearts came out of her winking eye and hit the incoming Torchic. Torchic stopped in his tracks and started chirping happily. His eyes were replaced with... big pink hearts? That's what happens when you get hit by attract, you eyes turn into hearts? That's... that's pretty weird.

"Hey! Don't seduce him!" Jessica shouted at Alex.

"Piplup bombard Torchic with bubble." Brendan shouted.

Piplup, who was standing up now, started rapidly shooting her Bubble attack at Torchic. Torchic was hit the many bubbles and sent flying towards Jessica. He landed a few feet away from her and Jessica rushed over to him.

"Are you alright Torchic?" She asked him.

"Ima nofinega" He responded quietly, though I couldn't really make out what he said.

"Torchic is unable to battle!" The woman in the white coat said.

Wait, it's over for them? It just looks like he fainted from exhaustion though or is probably unconscious. And what's more he doesn't look to have any serious injuries, just some bruises here and there. I could hear the crowd of students cheering out for Alex and Brendan, and other saying encouraging remarks to Jessica.

"Take a good rest Torchic." Jessica took out a Pokéball and Torchic disappeared into it with a red beam.

"YOU CHEATED BROTHER!" Jessica yelled angrily at Brendan.

"I didn't cheat." He responded with a smug look. "I just took advantage of Alex's really cheap strategy."

"HEY!" Alex shouted back.

"You still lost Jessica; there are no rules against what happened." The woman said.

Rules? They have rules for this? Do these rules include safety measures?

"Okay now it's just me and you Alex. And that move won't work this time." Brendan said.

He was right Attract only works on members of the opposite sex and both Piplup and Snivy are female. Snivy looked a lot more beat up than Piplup but she still had the advantage.

Alex seemed to notice that too. "Alright let's end this quick Snivy, Vine Whip!"

Snivy shot her Vines towards Piplup, intending to make this the last attack.

"Piplup run through the vines!" Brendan shouted

As the vines closed towards Piplup she dashed forward to avoid them. She was now running in between the two vines towards Snivy.

"End this with Peck!"

Her beck glowed and extended once again. She aimed her beck at Snivy and began to charge at her. Snivy's vines were too far out to reach Piplup now. Snivy looked to fatigue to move her legs after taking Torchic's Aerial Ace attack. I could tell Snivy won't be getting up after a super effective move like this.

"Snivy slam your vines into the ground, launch yourself into the air!" Alex shouted.

Snivy quickly brought her extended vines up and slammed them into the ground as hard as she could. Dust was kicked into the air from the impact. Snivy had sent herself airborne from the leverage of slamming her vines down. Barley avoiding Piplup's Peck attack, who had now stopped and gazed upwards towards Snivy.

"Spin and use Tackle!" Alex shouted.

Snivy began to spin in the air. Gaining more momentum as gravity took effect and sent her back down. She slammed into Piplup at high speed, leaving a dust cloud covering the area. There was only silence as everyone waited for the dust to clear. But once it did, we could see Snivy standing tall while Piplup was on the ground fainted.

"Piplup is unable to battle, making Alex the winner!" The woman in white shouted.

The crowd of students let out a loud cheer. I actually felt a little compelled to cheer to Alex to. But... I don't know, why is it like this? It's nothing like I thought it was. Sure they did fight each other, but it wasn't to the death... it was more like a competition or even training.

"You did great Piplup." Brendan took out a Pokéball and returned her to it.

Alex walked over to Snivy and scooped her up in his arms. "Great job Snivy." He said as he started petting her while Snivy snuggled into his arms.

"Congrats on winning the battle Alex." The woman in white told him. "Looks like you and Snivy will get along great."

"Thanks Professor Juniper." Alex said to the woman whose name was apparently Juniper.

"I think the same for you two as well." Juniper said to Brendan and Jessica. "You all warmed up to your Pokémon fast and they have already started to form a strong bond with you."

She was right, I could sense that Snivy had a surprising amount of respect for Alex right now despite the fact they just met.

"Thank you Professor." They both said.

"Well, my work is done here. You may begin your journeys at any time you wish. And if you're ever in Unova be sure to drop by my home." Juniper said. "Now I must take my leave, take care."

"Bye Juniper." Alex and Brendan said.

"Thanks for everything." Jessica said.

Juniper walked away to a car put a few things in a car and then drove off. At this point the Students were all starting to go home. Alex, Brendan and Jessica were still in the court talking.

"So when do you think we should start?" Alex asked.

"I say tomorrow, give our Pokémon some rest and some time to pack." Brendan said.

"Sooner the better, how about we all meet here at noon tomorrow?" Jessica said, getting a nod from both of them.

They were all leaving tomorrow? So I have less than a day to see them? What do I do? Just say goodbye and that's that? No, there has to be something else. At least I can take comfort in the fact that this whole 'Trainer' thing doesn't seem to be as cruel as I thought it was. But that was only one fight; I can't fully judge something at first glance. But then again, I already judged it without even taking a glance. If it stays the same way as I just saw it, then it's not so bad. No one got seriously hurt, and it seemed like even the Pokémon were having fun. And if I know those three as well as I think I do, then they won't become cruel heartless trainers like I always feared. They will treat the Pokémon with care and respect, much like how Alex has for me over...

Alex has always treated me like that. Would it be any different if... if I go with him? I never thought I would even think this, but I see no harm in becoming a trainer's Pokémon. As long as it's Alex, I know I'll be safe. He would never intentionally put me in harm's way. But would I have to fight?

"_You'll decide one day if you want to live this life or not. And if he's really your friend, he won't force this decision on you."_ I remembered the words Espeon said to me all those years ago

She was right; Alex wouldn't force me to do anything. If I didn't want to battle then I doubt he would make me. But, I would feel guilty that I wouldn't be helping Alex at all. All I would really do is keeping him company; he deserves much more than that. I suppose... I suppose I could try battling at least once just to see what it's like.

If I don't do this, I'll spend the rest of my life regretting it. Alex is my best friend; I won't let him be taken away from me so easily. I'm going to do it; I will go on this journey with him. A trainer, my friend.

I stepped out of my hiding place to confront Alex about this... only to see no one was left in the entire school area. I was the only one left just standing there on my own. How long was I thinking about this?

"Aw crap, where did he go?"

**/ / /**

**(Alex's POV)**

I was walking home now; I had returned Snivy to her Pokéball to give her a good rest. Tomorrow is the big day I set out to leave. I hope Mom will be okay with all of this. It would really suck if she said I couldn't go, but I doubt she will. It will be hard to say goodbye to her and everyone else here. But I'll come back sometimes. And... Gardevoir, I suddenly remembered how sad she looked before I received Snivy. She acted distant, something I hadn't seen from her ever since I first met her. I couldn't place my finger on why though. What could I have done that made her act this way? The only way I could really find out was to ask her what was wrong, but I didn't know where she was. Best guess I could make was she was at home, but if she's not then I'm back without knowing what to do.

I hope she isn't mad at me.

"Gardevoir!" I heard a familiar call behind me.

I turned around to see Gardevoir down the street, levitating towards me. Guess that takes care of finding her. As she got closer I could see she had a smile on her face. I wanted to say hi to her but she quickly caught up to me and wrapped me in a tight hug. I could feel part of her chest gem digging into my chest. But I was use to it at this point.

"Voir Gar Gardevoir!" She said while nuzzling our cheeks together.

Okay, this is just getting weird. First Snivy acts cold and uncaring, the suddenly becomes close and friendly. Now Gardevoir was acting sad and distant and now she's... well, this is normal for her really. But this was weird even for Gardevoir, why the sudden change of attitude? Could this be something like Apollo said? That she was changed based on the emotions of others? I don't think so, I was the only one by her when she became sad, and I was happy at that time. Maybe she felt the happy emotions when we were battling and that changed her mood.

"You alright Gardevoir?" I asked hoping to at least find out why she was sad in the first place.

She pulled her head away me and nodded a few times. That didn't tell me anything other than that she was completely fine now.

"So what's up then?" I asked.

Gardevoir looked down my chest, she finally let go of me and pointed towards the red pendant that Apollo gave me. Oh crap, was I suppose to give that back?

"Ya, this is the same pendant that let me become a trainer." I said.

She nodded. "Devoir voir Gardevoir." She said while pointing at herself.

"I... I don't..."

It all just hit me like a bag of bricks right there. Gardevoir was sad about the fact that I was going to leave her. She didn't even try to stop me. But now she got the idea that she could go with me, I don't know why she didn't think of it before but I didn't think of it right away either. I probably would've thought of it eventually, I couldn't bear the thought of leaving her behind. I just didn't even think about it until now. But I needed to ask just to make sure.

"Gardevoir, do you want to come with me?" Even though I already knew the answer.

"Voir!" She said and brought me into an even bigger hug, lifting me up in the process.

"How could I say no to that?" I said to me, earring her nuzzling me again.

I could feel her happiness as she nuzzled me. It was almost like being wrapped in a warm blanket, while having a soothing song help you relax.

**/ / /**

About ten minutes later we entered my house. We were greeted by my Mom sitting on a chair.

"So, how did it go?" She asked.

How did it go? Oh, I get it.

"You knew didn't you?" I said.

"Of course I did, all the parents knew. They had to get our permission to see if we were okay with it. Naturally everyone agreed." She said. "You still haven't answered my question."

At least I know she has no objections to me becoming a trainer.

"Well Brendan, Jessica and of course I won." I said proudly.

"Congratulations." She said while giving me a hug. "So what Pokémon is going with you?"

I held up my Pokéball to show her. "I got a nice little Snivy to come with me."

She then looked over to the Pokémon standing next to me. "And Gardevoir as well, right?"

"Yep, you don't mind do you?"

"Of course not, I wouldn't allow you to leave without her" She said.

"I don't think she would have liked that." I said, trying to hide the fact that I only realized that about ten minutes ago. Gardevoir responded with a giggle.

"So can I see this Snivy?" Mom asked.

"Of course."

I opened to Pokéball, the red light materialized to reveal Snivy. She looked better from her little rest in the Pokéball. She still looked a little beat up from the battle, but her bruises were barley showing.

"Snivy I'd like you to meet my Mother and my friend Gardevoir who will be coming with us." I said to her.

"Snivy." She said with a wave.

"Awwww, she's cute." Mom said and leaned down to pet her, which Snivy enjoyed. "She looks a little beat up; did you two have a battle already?"

"Ya, Jessica wanted all of us to battle before the day ended." I leaned down to Snivy as well. "But Snivy here managed to win it for us." I started to scratch her chin as my Mom petted her. Snivy closed her eyes and leaned her chin up, making me scratch her neck too. She seemed to like being scratched there.

"Sni." She moaned happily.

"Okay, well when are you leaving?" Mom asked

"We made plans to leave tomorrow at noon."

"TOMORROW!?" She stood up. "Well then get your rear in gear because you're not sleeping until you're packed and ready to go."

Probably should've seen this coming. But it will be good to pack tonight and I'm not that tired.

"Okay, let's go pack." I said while went started to head to my room. "Why don't you two get to know each other." I pointed to Gardevoir and Snivy as I continued to walk upstairs.

**/ / /**

**(Normal POV)**

Alex and Abigail walked upstairs to pack for Alex's journey as a trainer. Leaving Gardevoir and Snivy standing in the hallway.

Snivy was the first to speak. "(So, how long have you known Alex?)"

"(It's been about five, maybe six years.)" Gardevoir said.

"(So, what's he like?)" Snivy asked.

"(What do you mean?)"

"(Come on, details details.)" Snivy said while snapping her fingers. "(I want to know more of what I'm getting into.)"

"(Well, Alex. Is probably the nicest person I know. I guess you could say just by knowing him allowed me to see that humans are not terrible creatures. He is a very caring person, fun to be around, and just the kind of guy you know can be trusted.)"

"(You use to think humans were terrible creatures?") Snivy asked.

"(Well, yes. Before I met Alex, I thought they were the most dangerous and cruel things on this planet.") Gardevoir admitted.

"(And that all changed when you met him, how did you two met?)"

"(Well, he kind of saved my life.)" Gardevoir said.

Snivy smiled. "(How does one 'kind of' save your life?)"

Gardevoir smiled and rolled her eyes. ("Okay fine, I was poisoned and bleeding out in the forest, Alex found me and healed me.)"

Snivy's face shifted to a look of concern. "(How did that happen you?)"

"(I... I'd rather not talk about it.)" Gardevoir said remembering the pack of dark types that attacked her.

"(Oh... well look on the bright side.)" Snivy said. "(If that didn't happen, you might have never met Alex.")

"(I... guess that's true. I never thought of it like that.)" Gardevoir said.

"(Well, it looks like I'm in for a good time. My trainer seems nice and based on before, he knows how to battle.)" Snivy said happily.

"(Can i ask you something?)" Gardevoir said.

"(Sure)"

"(Why is it your happy about battling other Pokémon? Why do you enjoy it so much?)" Gardevoir asked.

Snivy looked confused at first. Then she remembered that she said that she used to think humans are cruel. She put two and two together and figured that they make Pokémon fight was one of the reasons for that.

"(Oh, well did you by chance see our battle today?)" She asked with Gardevoir nodding. "(Well as you can see we're definitely not fighting to the death. It's... more for sport really. There are rules to make sure no one is seriously hurt. And battles are very strict with these rules. As for why I enjoy it, well I find it's always fun to have a friendly spare with others. And in the process you become stronger and better.)"

Gardevoir nodded, somewhat understanding.

"(Have you ever battled before? A Pokémon battle a mean.)"

"(No, I haven't. But now that I know it isn't anything cruel or abusive to Pokémon like I thought it was before, I'm willing to try it just to see.)" Gardevoir said.

"(Great, and if it makes you feel better the organization that makes all the rules for battles is always on the lookout to catch trainers who are abusive to their Pokémon and stop them.)" Snivy said.

"(Really? They actually try to stop humans from doing that.)" Gardevoir said surprisingly.

"(Yep, they lock them up and help the Pokémon. See some humans aren't so bad after all.)" Snivy said. "(And I'll tell you what, after we leave you and I will have a little battle just to see if you're up for it.)"

"(I would like that, thank you Snivy.)" Gardevoir said.

"(No problem Gardevoir, I'm glad we'll be travelling together.)" Snivy said.

"(Me too.)"

Alex came downstairs, wearing his pajamas, to see Snivy and Gardevoir talking and smiling. He was happy to see that those two we're becoming fast friends.

"Okay you two, I think it's time for us to sleep. We have a big day tomorrow." Alex said to them.

The three of them went upstairs into Alex's room. Next to the door was a backpack full of supplies for Alex.

Alex had begun to lie down in the bed while Gardevoir sat next to him. Snivy got a bit of a confused look on her face.

"(Do you two sleep together or something?)" She asked.

"(Yep, been doing it for a while now. I thought it was weird at first but it feels nice, you should try it.)" Gardevoir said.

Snivy thought about it. "(Sure, why not?)"

Snivy jumped up to the bed and curled next to Alex.

"Are you sleeping with us as well Snivy?" Alex asked, Snivy yawning as her answer.

Gardevoir lay down and snuggle next to Alex. She lay her head on his chest and wrapped her arm around him. Alex pulled the blanket over them.

"Goodnight you two." Alex said, while Gardevoir nuzzled her face into his chest and Snivy shifted closer to Alex and the blanket.

The three of them soon fell asleep, ready for tomorrow to come.

**...**

**... what? Are you expecting me to say something important?**

**Ummmmmmmm...**

**COOKIES! **


	8. The first step

**READTHEDISCLAIMER! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon**

**...**

Alex was the first to awake in the morning. The sun rays beamed through the window onto his bed. Alex could still feel Gardevoir sleeping on top of him. He looked down his chest to see her still resting on his chest with her arms wrapped around to his shoulders. He could hear her make quiet breaths as she slept, the light leaking in the room made her milky white skin almost shine. Alex couldn't help but smile at this sight. She looked so peaceful just laying there. He looked to his clock and was it was eight o'clock, seeing that he was to leave at noon he figured this was a good time to get up. Alex lifted his free arm up, but as he did he felt something nudge his side. He looked down to see Snivy curled up, who was leaning towards his arm, was now leaning towards his hip. She was still asleep too. Alex was glad his new friend was already comfortable around him. Alex moved his hand to Gardevoir and began to softly pet the back of her head. His fingers lightly ran through her soft green hair. Gardevoir started to lightly moan a sound that Alex could've swore she started purring.

"Gardevoir, wake up." Alex said softly.

She continued to moan to Alex's voice and started to stir a bit.

"We got a big day ahead of us."

She stirred a bit more and added a little groan to her moans. Gardevoir's eyes slowly opened, fluttering a bit as she her vision adjusted to the light. She adjusted her head to face Alex, lightly dragging her face on his chest as she moved. She looked to Alex as she rested her chin on his chest. She stared at him with half open eyes and a smile on her face.

"Good morning Gardevoir."

"(Good morning.)" She said as she pulled herself up to Alex and touched her forehead with his as a sign of affection.

As their foreheads touched Alex could feel Gardevoir's emotions. More specifically he could feel her joy pouring into him and add to his own. The calm warm sensation filled Alex; it made his body relax from her touch. He continued to run his fingers through her green hair, causing Gardevoir to giggle a bit. They both wished they could stay there all day, but this luxury had to end. Alex shifted his body slightly to get ready to get up. Gardevoir slowly pulled away from him and smiled.

"I can't get up until you do." Alex said as Gardevoir was still on top of him.

She giggled again and rolled over to her side. Alex proceeded to move to the side of the bed. The movement causing the mattress to bump up and down woke Snivy from her slumber. Her eyes opened slightly to see Alex at the side of the bed. Seeing as it was time to wake up she lifted herself up with her arms and legs. Yawning as she stretched her back upwards, curving her body like a crescent moon facing down.

"If you're hungry come downstairs for some breakfast." Alex said as he went downstairs.

Gardevoir yawned as she lay back down on the bed; she didn't want to leave the comfort of it just yet. The events of yesterday came back to Gardevoir as she thought about going on a journey with Alex. She never really thought about going to explore the world before, but now that she was, she only just realized that there is still so much she hasn't seen yet. And with Alex by her side it should be fun. Gardevoir looked over to her other travelling companion, who was now standing up.

"(So, how was your sleep with us?)" She asked her.

"(It was nice.)" Snivy said while stretching her arms. "(I'm mostly used to sleeping by myself, but don't be surprised if you see me with you two every now and then. But there is a small part of me that's afraid I'll be crushed.)"

"(You're afraid you'll get crushed by us in your sleep? Are you calling me fat?)" Gardevoir said jokingly.

Snivy giggled a bit. "(Well, considering you're about five times bigger than me...)"

"(Alright then.)" Gardevoir lifted herself up and, using her arms to support her, she placed her body above where Snivy stood. "(If I'm as big as you say, maybe I should squish you!)" Gardevoir let her arms go and she plummeted down towards Snivy. She knew Snivy would be fine as the bed would absorb most of the impact. But as she landed on the bed, she only felt the bed hit her chest. Gardevoir heard a 'tsk tsk' come from her side. She looked over to see Snivy standing there waving her finger.

"(Your too slow you big lug.)" Snivy said while patting her head. She immediately ran to the door in what Gardevoir saw as a green blur. "(See you downstairs.)"

In an instant Snivy was out of her sight and downstairs. Gardevoir just laid there on her chest her a few seconds, pondering what just happened.

"(She's quick.)" She said to herself.

**/ / /**

Abigail was already downstairs making pancakes for the group before they head out. Alex came down and entered the kitchen.

"Well good morning sleepyhead." Alex's Mother said. "Sleep well?"

"Yep." Alex said as he took his seat. He was then joined by Snivy who had hopped up on the table next to him.

"Well, somebody got up fast." Alex said as he went to scratch under Snivy's chin. But as he did she leaned her head up so that he would rub down her whole neck. Her eyes were closed and she had a big smile on her face while he did. "_She really likes being rubbed there, almost like it's her sweet spot or something."_

"Alright, it's ready." Abigail said.

Abigail had now finished the pancakes and put out two plates for the company at the table. Each plate was stacked with three pancakes mixed with syrup and butter. Alex had stopped rubbing Snivy's neck and the two looked at the pancakes with delight. Alex grabbed his fork and knife and began eating the delicious pancakes. Snivy did the same by grabbing the kitchen utensils with her vines instead and began eating. Alex looked at her as she used her vines to help her.

"_Hmmm, the Pokédex was right. She does use her vines more than her hands." _ He thought and was surprised she knew how to use kitchen utensils.

Gardevoir came had now come downstairs, going unnoticed by everyone as she made no sound while levitating. As Alex was about to take a bite of his pancake, Gardevoir wrapped her arms around his neck from behind making Alex jumps slightly. He soon realized it was just his friend.

"Oh look who finally decided to get out of bed." Alex teased her.

Gardevoir giggled a bit and noticed the fork in front of Alex that had a piece of pancake on it. She quickly leaned forward and bit down on it. Eating the pancake and swiping Alex's food.

"Hey, that's mine!" Alex said only earning more giggles from Gardevoir.

"Alright you two settle down, there's plenty for everyone." Abigail said as she gave a plate of pancakes to Gardevoir.

The four of them began to eat their breakfast. Snivy was most focused on the food because she had never eaten Abigail's pancakes before and loved every bit of it.

"So, what exactly do you plan to do?" Abigail asked her son.

"What do you mean?"

"Like, while you're out there in the world, what exactly are you going to do, where are you going to go? Things like that."

Alex thought about it. "I'm not really sure." It was true, Alex hadn't thought about it too much. He didn't really have any goal set for this journey. "I guess the reason I want to do this is to see the world. Just explore, make friends and learn as much as I can about this place we live in. I know so little about it."

"When you look at the big picture, everyone knows very little about this world son."

Alex chuckled. "Good point."

"In all seriousness though, that's probably the best thing you can do. Just make sure you stay safe alright."

"Come on Mom, I can take care of myself now."

"That's what you think. That is why I'm making sure Gardevoir goes with you." Abigail winked at the embrace Pokémon. "She'll keep you out of trouble."

"You really trust her more than you trust your own son?"

"Can you give me any reason why I shouldn't?"

Alex opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. While they were joking around, he really couldn't think of any reason why Gardevoir could not be trusted. If anything she would be the last person or Pokémon they wouldn't trust.

"My point exactly." Abigail said while Gardevoir stuck her tongue out at Alex to tease him.

The three of them all laughed at this, while Snivy was too busy eating her pancakes to notice anything. Once they were all done eating their breakfast Alex looked at the clock to see it was now almost nine o'clock.

"Well, I should probably get ready to go soon. I'm going to take a shower okay?"

"Alright, go ahead." Abigail said as Alex put rinsed his dish in the sink and walked upstairs to the bathroom.

"Gardevoir come with me into the living room, I need to talk to you." Abigail suddenly said.

Gardevoir was a little taken back that her tone had changed so fast. She only nodded as her answer and got up with Abigail to the living room, leaving Snivy by herself to eat the leftover pancakes. The two entered the living room. Gardevoir could feel Abigail's emotions change to be much more serious. She was a little worried on what this was about.

"Alright now I wasn't lying when I said I'm trusting you with keeping him out of trouble. I'm not saying you can't but you have to understand why I'd be worried for my son."

Gardevoir nodded, understanding how it's natural that a mother would be worried.

"I know that you care deeply for my son and will look after him in my place. You two have been more than friends for a few years now. I pretty much see you as my own daughter now."

Gardevoir smiled and blushed slightly that Abigail considered her part of her family. In a sense Gardevoir did see Abigail to be a mother figure to her too.

"Well, what I'm trying to say is... I know you'll keep my son safe. And you'll have a great time travelling with him." Abigail walked up to give Gardevoir a hug which she returned. Abigail then whispered to her. "And just so you know, I don't care how close you two get."

Gardevoir didn't know what she meant by that. How close they got? What does that mean? But before Gardevoir could ask, Alex had made his way down the stairs.

"Okay, I'm all done. I just need to get my bags and see if I missed to pack anything." Alex said.

"Alright, I'll help you with that." Abigail said as she went to Alex's room with him.

"Why does it seem like you want me out as soon as possible?"

"Because then I can finally use your room as something useful... maybe I'll paint it pink and fill it with dolls?" She teased.

Gardevoir thought about what Abigail said as they went upstairs. She was happy that Abigail thought of her that way... but what did she mean by that last part? She didn't care how close they got? They're already pretty close. Maybe since Abigail saw her as a daughter, she meant if Gardevoir saw Alex as a brother. Maybe Gardevoir could see Alex as a little brother, but they were more of really close friends. She didn't really know what else to think about it so she went back to the kitchen. But when she got there she couldn't believe what she saw. All the pancakes were gone, even the ones on the counter. And in the center of the table was Snivy, rubbing her belly with a big satisfied smile on her face.

"(You really ate all those pancakes?)" Gardevoir said dumbfounded.

"(Yep, they were really good.)"

"(But... there were... how...)"

"(You'd be surprised how much my specie's stomachs can hold.)"

**/ / /**

Everyone was now outside the house. Alex was wearing his black jacket and a pair hiking boots. He carried a medium size backpack with many pockets on his back. Gardevoir and Snivy were by his side. Alex was ready to leave now. He was about to say goodbye to his Mom, although he knew this was coming, he couldn't stop the tears coming from his eyes. it was really hitting him at once of the thought of leaving his Mom.

He quickly hugged her. "I'll miss you."

While Abigail was calmer about this, some tears were flowing from her eyes. "Oh, I know. I'll miss you too. But this isn't goodbye forever, you know that."

"I know."

The mother and son continued to hug each other while Gardevoir and Snivy stood to the side smiling at the scene. After about a minute of hugging Abigail lightly pushed Alex away.

"Now don't let this stop you, you get out there and see the world. Come back here whenever you feel like it." Abigail said.

"I will."

Alex turned around and began to walk away with his friends the trio waving for a bit as they walked away. Within a few minutes the house was out of site and the human and two Pokémon were walking alone in the street. It would take about ten minutes for them to reach the school, so Alex decided to ask his friends something that has been on his mind.

"So, I've been thinking." Alex said. "Do you two have names?"

Both Pokémon shook their heads.

"Would you like one?"

Snivy immediately smiled and nodded her head. Gardevoir thought about having a name. She never thought about having one before, she knew sometimes Pokémon did give themselves names. But usually how they could tell each other apart was by scent or in a psychic like her case, a Pokémon's sense. By having a name seemed... nice. Like it was something that Alex saw unique in her. Gardevoir made her decision and nodded her head.

"Okay, let's start with you." Alex pointed to Snivy. "Something that seems like it has character. Hmmmmm... how about Sheila?"

Snivy thought about it, it did seem like a nice name. It had a certain romantic ring to her. Snivy nodded her head, accepting her new name now as Sheila.

"Glad to see you like it." Alex turned to Gardevoir. "Now you, what to name you? Something that sounds mysterious and pretty. How does Cosmo sound?"

Gardevoir thought about the name Cosmo. It did sound like a pretty name to her and she felt like it fit her nicely. Gardevoir liked it, and gave Alex a big hug.

"Guess that means you like it."

"(I do, thank you)" Gardevoir, now named Cosmo, said.

Cosmo put Alex down after a few moments and the trio continued to walk towards the school. Sheila jumped on Alex's arm and climb to his shoulder for a free ride.

"_I think I'm going to like it here." _Sheila thought.

Alex suddenly stopped as he just remembered something.

"Oh right, Cosmo there's something important we still need to do. And I don't think you're going to like it."

Cosmo wondered what he could mean, but it was soon answered as Alex reached in his jacket and pulled out a Pokéball. Cosmo eyes widened as she saw that device in his hand.

"If you really are sure about coming with me, I'm going to have to officially catch you."

Cosmo partly expected this would happen, but she still wasn't prepared for it. Being held captive by that infernal device was one of her biggest fears. Images of how Simon from a few years back and how he almost confined her in that device flooded her mind. She was sacred, scared that if she went in she might not come out. Alex could see the fear in her eyes. The joyful feeling that was with her was gone and replaced by fear that swept over Alex. He needed to calm her.

"I know this is big for you. But... think of it this way if you're in this Pokéball other trainer can't catch you."

That was true; Cosmo would be safe from other trainers that wanted to catch her. But if Alex was the one who caught her she knew that he wouldn't force her into anything. Some of the fear that Alex felt went away from her. But he knew that wasn't enough, he needed to promise her something to ease her.

"Okay Cosmo how about this, after this I promise I will never put you back in the Pokéball unless I really need too... like for your safety."

Cosmo face lightened up at that. Alex was promising her to keep her from confinement. And she only needed to go in once. It was sweet of him to say that, it made her trust of him seem all the more important to her. Cosmo nodded her head and Alex held the round red and white device at her.

"I'll let you right out, it will only be a few seconds." Cosmo braced herself for whatever would happen.

Alex gently tossed the ball at Cosmo. The ball hit her arms and bounced off her, hovering in the air as it opened. A red light shot out and engulfed her, in less than second the light dematerialized into the ball. The ball hit the ground and shook only once before a 'ding' was heard. Alex went down and grabbed the Pokéball wasting no time to bring Cosmo out. The red light once again came out of the ball and materialized into the green and white Gardevoir that Alex knew all too well. Once she was able to move again she immediately jump forward and hugged Alex. Cosmo was shivering out of fear she grabbed him, her fingers digging into his back.

"It's okay, it's okay." Alex patted her back to comfort her.

Sheila looked at the scene from Alex's shoulder having never seen a Pokémon scared of a Pokéball before. She knew that Cosmo once feared humans and especially trainers. But it seemed to be a lot more serious than she thought. It was possible that Cosmo was suffering from claustrophobia.

**/ / /**

Soon the group reached the schoolyard; Alex could see Brendan and Jessica were already there in the basketball court. Jessica was carrying Torchic in her arms against her chest, while Piplup was standing next to Brendan.

Jessica spotted Alex and shouted to him. "About time you showed up!"

Alex checked his watch. "I'm ten minutes early."

"Ya, but we've been waiting for thirty minutes."

Brendan groaned. "She insisted we get here early even though I told her we'd end up wafting for you."

"And I told you that Alex would be here earlier like he is now, so we needed to hurry if we wanted to beat him."

"THIS ISN'T A RACE!"

"Alright alright, I'm here now so it doesn't matter." Alex said hoping to stop the beginning of them arguing.

Changing the subject Jessica looked over to Cosmo. "Well we all saw this coming."

"What do you mean?"

"Gardevoir, she's coming with you silly."

"_Jeez, did everyone expect Cosmo to come with me except me?" _Alex thought. "Of course, but her name is Cosmo now."

"Cosmo huh... a pretty name for a pretty person, or Pokémon in this case." Jessica said making Cosmo blush slightly.

"Ah so you decided to give them names too?" Brendan added. "And Snivy?"

"Oh, this is Sheila." Alex said with Snivy giving a wave from his shoulder. "So you gave them names too?"

"Yep, this is Toro." Jessica nodded towards the Torchic in her arms, Toro adding a little chirp.

"And this is Empress." Brendan said pointing to the Piplup, while she stood proudly. Brendan no doubt appealing to her sense of pride again.

Alex didn't expect the other two Pokémon to get names as well, but they did sound like nice names as well.

"Alright now without any more delays." Jessica took a leap ahead of the group and spun away from them to point towards the horizon. "Let's head out!"

As always Jessica was the one to take the lead and figuratively drag them with her. Alex and Brendan just shrugged and caught up to Jessica before she took off. The group walked for a few minutes before reaching the end of the town where they stopped.

"Well this is it; once we take our first steps out here we begin our journey." Brendan stated. "It's really a historical event for us when we leave home."

"You going to write a book about it?" Jessica teased.

"Maybe one day."

"You know, this is the first time I've been outside Beacon town. I've spent my whole life there." Alex said.

"Ya, us too." Jessica said.

"So, shall we?" Brendan said.

The group looked forward and stepped forward outside of the border of their home town. They continued to walk until Jessica broke the silence.

"That didn't really feel as significant as it was hyped to be."

"I don't think we were meant to feel it. It was more of a... memorable moment." Alex said.

"I guess..." Jessica then took a few steps ahead of them and began to walk backwards at the same pace to face them. "So, what's the plan?"

"What do you mean?" Brendan asked, although Alex had a good idea what she meant as his Mom pretty much asked him the same thing.

"So are we going to do? Will we travel together or go our separate ways for now? You know, what's the plan?"

"I never really thought about it."

"Ya, I'm pretty much doing this to travel."

"Typical, you boys never think ahead."

Alex opened his mouth to say something about that statement, but Brendan put his arm up to cut him off signaling 'don't bother'.

"So, how about this Beacon town is about a two day walk from Eterna city, and there are several paths to take there. So how about we split up for now and meet up there. We see how much stronger we got in just two days and if we find and befriend anymore Pokémon. And maybe if we're ready we can challenge the gym leader there too."

"Are you saying you want us to enter the Sinnoh league Jessica?" Alex said.

"It wouldn't be a bad idea right?"

"I suppose it would give us a stepping stone to our journey. With this we can have locations we can go to, and who knows we may find what we want to do along the way. It may even be becoming a professional trainer." Brendan said.

"Exactly... little more specific then I put it, but yes."

Entering the Sinnoh league was never Alex's intention, but Brendan was right it could help him gain experience in the world and Pokémon. Alex, Cosmo, Sheila and any other Pokémon that comes with him would become stronger along the way.

"Alright so we're all in agreement, and look just in time." Jessica pointed to ahead to a fork in the road next to a small cliff. "Here's where we can spilt up, each of these paths will lead us the Eterna city."

"How do you know you this Jessica?" Alex asked.

"I read a map."

"Even so, there's a problem in your plan. There are two paths but only two of us." Brendan said.

"Oh you never think outside the box." Jessica started running towards the cliff. She jumped on a rock and up more rocks until she was at the top of the cliff, surprisingly keeping her balance with Toro in her arms. "Up here is a path too that leads to Eterna. Let's see who can get there first and who has the most Pokémon with them by then, even though Alex is kind of cheating at that last part. See you there!"

And with that Jessica was out of there sight atop the cliff, leaving the rest of the group just standing there at the sudden departure.

"Is it just me, or do we hardly get a say in the things in anything we do." Alex teased.

"Oh trust me it's not just us. Anyways what path do you want?"

Alex looked down the paths; the path to the right seemed to be a clear path while the one on the left lead into a small forest. Alex had spent his time in the forest by his house before and knew the kind of Pokémon that usually inhabit that kind of area. But he wanted to experience new things and thus thought a clear open path with many possibilities was the right way to go.

"Think I'll take the right path."

"Oh, so you're leaving me with the dark mysterious forest." Brendan teased.

"Why, not enough light for your books?"

"Now you're starting to sound like my sister, regardless I'll gladly take the forest."

"Alright, I'll see you in Eterna..." The two for them shook hands. "You to Empress."

"(See you soon.)" Empress said.

"I'll meet you there." Brenda let go of Alex's hand and took a bow to the other two. "Ladies."

Cosmo and Sheila giggled a bit at Brendan's courtesy and waved to them.

The two groups broke off as they went their separate ways. Alex was excited to see them in two days to see, but at the same time he wanted to surprise them with some things he would find along the way. Two days wasn't very long but who knows what could happen. The trio continued to walk in the path with no idea what was waiting for them, but that's what made it fun.

**/ / /**

The path was mostly clear as they pressed on. Long fields of lush green grass surrounded them. It was pretty much a meadow.

"(This is really beautiful)" Cosmo said.

"Let's take a break just over by that tree and just admire the scenery, what do you think?"

Cosmo nodded her head a few times while Sheila jumped off Alex's shoulder and ran towards the tree. The tree was rather big and on top of a hill where they could view the whole meadow. Alex and Cosmo had caught up to Sheila who was now running around the tree playfully. The other two sat down against the tree to look at the view.

"You know, its things like this why I wanted to do this in the first place. I may never have got to see this meadow if I didn't leave for this journey." Alex said, as Cosmo leaned against him. "I never thought about going into the Sinnoh league, but it does seem like the ideal thing to do... for now at least."

Cosmo wondered about that, she knew what the Sinnoh league was. It was where trainers would collect to compete with Pokémon battles. At first she thought it some cruel enjoyment that humans did, but after seeing a battle yesterday she knew that wasn't the case. But was she really ready to do something like that? But she suddenly remembered something else from yesterday.

"(Hey, Sheila.)" She called out.

Sheila stopped playing around the tree and came up to Cosmo. "(Yes?)"

"(Remember yesterday when you said we would have a battle to see if I liked it?)"

"(Ah yes, you want to do that now?)"

"(Yes, now seems like that best time.)"

Sheila smiled and signalled her to follow her. Cosmo got up and followed her.

"Where are you going?' Alex asked.

Cosmo simply smiled at him, telling him not to worry. Sheila instructed Cosmo to stand away from her and get ready. Alex watched their stances and wondered what they were doing. He recognized Sheila's stance from yesterday.

"_Wait, are they going to battle." _Alex thought.

As Alex thought about it he instinctively reached for his Pokédex, if occurred to him he didn't know Cosmo's attacks and if Sheila had learned any new ones from yesterday. He first pointed it at Sheila, the Pokédex listing her name as he registered their names after he officially added Cosmo to the team.

**Sheila**

**Species: Snivy**

**Gender: female**

**Ability: Overgrow**

**Moves:**

**Tackle **

**Leer**

**Vine whip**

**Attract**

Alex didn't really expect Sheila to learn anything new from just that one battle, but it didn't hurt to check. Alex then pointed it at Cosmo.

**Cosmo**

**Species: Gardevoir**

**Gender: female**

**Ability: Trace**

**Moves:**

**Psychic **

**Confusion**

**Teleport**

**Hypnosis **

**Calm mind**

**Double team**

**Thunderbolt **

**Shadow ball**

**Focus blast**

**Fire punch**

Alex was surprised that Cosmo know so many moves. He has only seen her use a few of them yet they were never really used for attacking when he saw them. So Alex had no idea just how strong Cosmo was.

"(You ready?)" Sheila asked her.

"(Yes.)" Cosmo said, though she was nervous.

"(Okay, here I come.)" Sheila began to dash towards Cosmo.

Cosmo didn't want to hurt Sheila, so she held her hand up and a purple aura surrounded it. Cosmo fired a small, slow moving, Shadow ball at Sheila. Sheila looked at the small thing, almost insulted. She stopped and waited for it to reach her. Sheila simply side stepped to avoid it with no effort.

"(While I appreciate that you don't want me to get hurt, you can at least try.)"

"(Sorry, I just don't know how much is too much.)"

"(How should I explain this? You want to try to hurt or exhaust your opponent, but not severely injure them.)" Sheila tried to explain.

Cosmo didn't look anymore convinced to what to do.

"(Here, I'll show you.)" With that Sheila disappeared into a blur that slammed into Cosmo's chest. Cosmo quickly regained her balance and looked at her chest. It did hurt yes, but it was only a small bruise that had no significant damage to her body. She looked over to Sheila who was smiling.

"(Alright then.)" Cosmo's hand was once again engulfed in a purple aura and she fired another Shadow ball. This time it was bigger and moving fast towards Sheila.

"(Now that's more like it.)" Sheila said as she jumped out of the way.

As Sheila landed she began to run around Cosmo as a green blur. Cosmo knew that the Snivy was fast but she could barely see her. Alex was surprised to; if he had known about Sheila's speed he would have used it in the battle yesterday.

"(Come on, try to hit me.)" Sheila said as she once again tackled Cosmo from behind.

Cosmo lifted both her hand covered in the purple aura and she fired Shadow balls from each hand to both her sides.

"(Too slow!)" Sheila said as she dogged the attacks and hit Cosmo's face with one of her vines.

Cosmo needed a new plan; she raised her hand again only this time it was coated with electricity. She began to spin herself and fired a thunderbolt towards the ground around her. The continuous electric type attack was spinning with her as she spun around. Soon Snivy was hit by the electric attack, but being a grass type she resisted it. Cosmo stopped spinning and saw that her target was hit, she didn't know why but she had a good deal of enjoyment that she managed to land an attack.

Sheila recovered quickly from the attack and lunged herself at Cosmo intending to tackle her again. But Cosmo was ready this was and Sheila passed through her. Sheila looked behind her to see that several copies of Cosmo's double team attack. But before she could react the Copies of the Gardevoir raised their hands and their eyes glowed a light blue. Sheila suddenly felt herself suspended in the air and then push away by her Psychic attack. She crashed to the ground hard a few meters away.

Cosmo never thought she would think this, but she was actually having fun battling with her friend. No one was getting seriously hurt, and they were getting stronger. It's just like what Sheila said to her yesterday, it was like a friendly competition. Sheila got up slowly panting as she was hit by a strong attack; it was no surprise that Cosmo was on a whole different level than her, that and she was fully evolved.

Sheila got up but then sat back down. "(Okay, I'm done.)"

"(Awwww you're giving up?)" Cosmo teased.

"(Hey you're a lot stronger than me, and I knew I wasn't going to last long against you. I'll admit that. Just wait until I get stronger and even evolve.)"

Clapping was heard and the two Pokémon looked over to see Alex walking to them.

"Congratulations Cosmo looks like you just won your first battle." Alex said.

Excitement had filled Gardevoir as he said that. The thrill of a battle had gone through her and she liked it. She went up to him and gave Alex a big hug.

"Hey you're the one being congratulated here." Alex said while Cosmo giggled.

"(So I take it your okay with battling now?)" Sheila asked her.

Cosmo didn't think this would ever happen to her, but this was something she knew she could do.

"(Yes, you can count on me.)"

**/ / /**

The sun was setting now; Alex had decided that they set up camp by the tree. They had eaten dinner now and the tent was set up with a small fire to keep them warm. Sheila was already tired and was sleeping in the tent. Alex and Cosmo were resting by the fire, Cosmo was learning into Alex shoulder with her arms wrapped around him. She was glad that he was with her; she didn't think she could ask for a better friend.

"You know, even if all we ever did was this throughout our journey... I'll be fine with that." Alex said as he embraced Cosmo.

Cosmo giggle a bit as she rested into his arms. Alex always welcomed her warm embrace, he felt at peace like this. Alex looked around the meadow to see it bring some familiar ground to him.

'You know this place kind of reminds me of the spring by my house, where we played chase all the time." Alex said.

Of course Cosmo remembered that, they had a lot of fun in that place. Remembering all those times got her in the mood to play again right now though. She suddenly got up and motioned for Alex to come get her. Alex knew this sign all too well and didn't even bother to say anything and he ran after her.

The two ran through the meadow without any care as Alex chased Cosmo. Cosmo had to levitate at full speed now as Alex had gotten faster and stronger over the years, as a result of chasing her constantly. She used her double team in an attempt to trick Alex, but as always it was to no avail as he always knew which one was her. Darkness had covered the sky as they ran. Cosmo was laughing as she was chased by her friend like she always did. Alex knew he wouldn't catch her like this; he would tire out eventually like he always did. Cosmo once again tried to do a double team, she knew it was pointless but she wanted to know how Alex knew which one was her. As the copies of the Gardevoir appeared, Alex got an idea.

Alex saw his friend's real eyes form the doubles like he always did, he still didn't know how he could tell that. It was like he could see her through her eyes. But instead of jumping to her Alex jumped to the copy to Cosmo's right side, it vanished as Alex's collided with it. Cosmo stood there stunned that Alex had missed her, had he finally lost his touch. But this was what Alex planned as he immediately jumped to Gardevoir while she was still stunned. Alex tackled Cosmo to the ground and landed on top of her, the copies disappearing as he did.

"I DID IT!" Alex shouted into the sky. "After five years I finally caught you."

Cosmo was still stunned by what happened, but she was giggling at Alex congratulating himself.

"And now it's time for some payback."

Cosmo stopped giggling, what did he mean? But that was answered as Alex started to tickle her ribs. Cosmo began to laugh uncontrollably. Alex further added to his 'payback' as he began to nuzzle Cosmo's face with his own.

"You're always nuzzling me and snuggling up to me, it's about time I got my turn." Alex teased.

Cosmo could barely hear him over her own laughter. But at the same she was enjoying Alex doing this to her. But she wasn't going to let him have full control. Alex felt himself be grabbed by an invisible force, and soon found himself on his back with Cosmo on top of him thanks to her psychic. She then began to nuzzle his face herself.

"Hey, no fair." Alex continued to tickle Cosmo's ribs making her laugh as she nuzzled his face.

The two lost track of how long they just lay there tickling and nuzzling each other. Eventually they both got tired and just stared at each other. The moon was now overhead and shun its light down on the planet. The light making Cosmo's milky white skin almost glow in its presence. He remembered on how the sun earlier today made her skin shine as well.

"The moon and sun really have pretty effect on you. But then again, you were always pretty anyways." Alex brought his hand up to rub her cheek, Cosmo held his hand as he did and guided it across her cheek.

"(Thank you.)" Cosmo said with a smile.

All of Cosmo's joy and happiness a washed over Alex as it added to his own. They could feel each other positive emotions as they lay there. They stared at each other for a while until Alex decided to go back to the tent to sleep. Cosmo never let go of Alex as they walked.

As they entered the tent they could see Sheila sleeping in the corner. The two moved carefully and slowly to be careful not to disturb her. Alex reached his sleeping bag where there was more than enough room for Cosmo to snuggle in with him.

Without needing to say single word the two drifted sleep, glad that they were together.

**...**

**So this took a while again. However this time I have a '****real'**** excuse as to why it did. If you look at my profile page you'll notice that I have other stories planned. And I'm currently working on the one at the top of the list "Loyalty has its own rewards" so I've been alternating between the two stories. Not sure when it will be out, but I have I hope people will like it as it will be a one chapter story.**

**So HA! Can't blame me for just being lazy this time ;P**


	9. Abused

**Aw ya, words and shit.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.**

**...**

"Alright, is everyone good to go?" Alex asked his friends, which they nodded in response.

"Okay, let's head out." Alex said, but as he took a step he felt something land on his shoulder. He looked to see that Sheila had jumped on him. "Another ride?"

Sheila merely giggled and half curled around Alex's neck like a scarf to get comfortable. "This is going to be a thing with you isn't it?" Alex went to scratch under her chin, Sheila stretching her chin out as he scratch her sweet spot. "Well that's fine with me."

The group had woken up a few hours ago. They were already packed and now ready to continue the path they started yesterday. The meadow stretched out beyond their eyesight of the path they were taking. Cosmo continued to admire the beauty of this sight as they walked. She never did travel much in her life and didn't get to see as much as she wanted to. She was glad that she had gotten this opportunity and to make it even better Alex would be with her the whole way. Cosmo always did enjoy his company; she always got a nice feeling from his presence. Cosmo reached out and took hold of Alex's hand as they walked. Alex took it, half expecting it to happen anyways, he was used to it by this point.

The trio walked for a while, Cosmo enjoying the sights of the everlasting meadow that continued with them, Sheila staring to dose off on Alex's shoulders, and Alex keeping his eye out for anyone else preferably a Pokémon he could try to befriend. But strangely, Alex had yet to spot a single Pokémon in this beautiful place. Alex thought it could be possible that they didn't like to be out in the open or just might even be hiding in the grass. While both did seen possible Alex didn't want to disturb anyone so he kept on the main path and kept his eyes open.

After some time of walking the path began to turn into many hills, obstructed their vision of the path ahead and forcing them to climb the slopes.

"I wonder how much father Eterna is."Alex said. "Maybe once we get over these hills..."

Alex cut himself off as he saw a silhouette fly into the sky. A large dark figure loomed overhead, spreading its large black wings and even seemed to be wearing some kind of hat.

"Hey is that a Honchkrow?"Alex said as the Big Boss Pokémon fly around in circles ahead of them.

"(Great, a dark type.)" Cosmo said.

"(Oh don't be like that.)" Sheila said to her. "(Just because their pretty much you're natural predator gives you no reason to hate them)"

"(I didn't mean it like that, I just... well...)" Cosmo stuttered on her words, not sure what to say.

"(Hey I don't hate fire types, and they are pretty much deadly to me. But that's just the way life is, circle of life.)"

"(I guess)"

Alex wasn't really sure what they were talking about, but he wanted to move forward and see the first Pokémon he's seen on this journey.

"Come on, let's check it out."

But before they could even take one step, a bolt of electricity was just in the air ahead of them. The bolt hit the Honchkrow head on and within a few seconds he plummeted to the ground.

"(What just happened?)" Sheila asked rhetorically as the Honchkrow disappeared from their sight.

"Let's go" Alex said as he jogged over the hills to see what who fired the electric attack.

Over the few remaining hills they went, and once they climbed the last one they saw the attacker. Or rather they saw the trainer of the attacker as a human stood there and threw a Pokéball at the downed Honchkrow. No other Pokémon was there; whoever fired the attack must have already been recalled to the Pokéball. The Pokéball hit the Honchkrow and took it in through the red light. In three short shakes the ball sealed, the Honchkrow was captured by this mysterious trainer.

"Aw nuts, oh well you win some you lose some." Alex said as his chance to meet the Honchkrow was lost.

Cosmo felt a little sorry for the Honchkrow as he may have just been captured against his will. She knew Alex wasn't like this, but seeing things like that happened still made her sad.

"Well, we might as well ask him how far Eterna is." Alex said as he walked toward the stranger.

As they got closer to the trainer, a sense of worry went through Cosmo. Not because this was another trainer or that this was a human stranger, but Cosmo was trying to sense this trainer's emotions. Only she found nothing, his presence could be felt by her but that was it. Why couldn't feel anything else from this human, and worst yet while she can't feel emotions it still feels familiar to her but she can't place it.

"Excuse me." Alex said as he got behind the trainer.

The trainer turned around, his black hair swung slightly revealing both his green eyes before it came to a still and covered one of them. Alex and Cosmo froze and their eyes widened, they had met this trainer before.

"Can I help you?" Simon said.

Cosmo now knew why this presence had felt familiar. Simon, the same trainer that tried to capture her a few years ago and was brutal to her and his Pokémon, he even hurt Alex in the process. If it wasn't for Abigail and Officer Jenny intervening, Cosmo would have been captured and abused by him. Alex knew this as well and instantly regretted asking talking to him. But he hasn't said anything about them yet, so maybe he didn't recognize them.

"Ummm, do you know how far Eterna city is?" Alex asked hoping to get away as quickly as possible.

"Ah, it's about an hour walk down the path." He said

"_Guess Jessica was wrong; it hasn't even been two days yet. At least it looks like he still doesn't recognize us."_ "Okay, thanks." Alex said quickly as he began to walk down the path.

"Now hold on a minute." Simon said as he grabbed Alex's shoulder, Alex froze in fear that he had recognized him. "The general rule is that when trainer's eyes meet they battle."

"Well yes but I'm in a hurry."

"We'll make it quick, I've yet to see a Snivy in battle before and I'm curious." He said as he pointed to Sheila around Alex's neck. "How many Pokémon do you have?"

Alex figured he wasn't going to let them go and decided to get this over with, besides it's not like he could capture Cosmo now. He still didn't seem to recognize them so he it seemed like he just wanted a quick battle.

"Only these two." Alex said as he pointed to Cosmo and Sheila.

"Very well then, we'll have a two on two."

Alex could feel the large amount of worry and fear coming from Cosmo. And she had every right to be, Alex had never seen Cosmo so scared when she was almost caught by Simon. While Cosmo did want to run, at the same time she wanted to get back at Simon for what he did, it may even relive her of her fear of him.

Simon walked a good distance away to give them space; he took out a Pokéball and tossed in the air. A familiar figure emerged from the red light as a Lopunny. Cosmo could recognize her as the same Lopunny that Simon had with him a few years ago.

Alex knew it was probably best not to send Cosmo out first as she might be distracted. "Sheila you're up."

Sheila jumped off Alex's shoulders and got in a battle stance.

"Okay, I'll go first. Lopunny use Dizzy Punch!"

Lopunny charge towards Sheila with her fist raised up. Sheila dodged her attack by quickly jumping over her in a green blur and landing behind her.

"Sheila use Leer!"

As Lopunny turned around her was staring into Sheila's now red glowing eyes, she froze in fear as a reaction.

"Good now Tackle!"

Sheila charged forward while Lopunny was stunned, and tackled into her chest. Lopunny was thrown several meters back but remained on her legs.

"Get back in there and use Bounce!" Simon shouted.

Lopunny crouched down in a ready position, then using her strong legs she leaped high into the air.

"Get out of the way Sheila!" Alex shouted.

Sheila barely had time to dodge as Lopunny came back down at an incredible descent. When she connected to the ground a large rumble was heard and dust was kicked up from the ground. Alex and Cosmo had to avert their eyes to avoid the dust getting in them. As the dust cleared Alex could see Lopunny standing tall, completely unfazed by the impact to the now cracked ground which left a hole that could fit everyone here inside it.

"_That is one strong Bounce attack; I don't even want to think what would have happened it hit Sheila. She's not even worn down from it, those legs are strong. Have to be careful of them." _Alex thought.

"Use Bounce again! This time hit your target!" Simon ordered.

Alex grunted in annoyance as he used the same move again. But as Lopunny jumped up he got an idea.

"Sheila use Vine whip, grab her legs!"

Two vines shot out from Sheila's collar and wrapped around Lopunny's right leg as she descended. Alex didn't need to tell Sheila what to do next as she pulled Lopunny down and slammed her into the ground away from her in front of Simon.

"Nicely done Sheila." Alex said to Sheila, who stood up proudly at his praise.

Simon walked up to Lopunny and lifted her up by the back of her neck. "Stop fucking around and beat her!" Simon shouted into her large ears and pushed her forward.

Lopunny staggered on her feet as she regained her balance. Cosmo looked at Simon in disgust; she remembered how he had kicked her back when they first met after she had lost to her. Cosmo knew that she was abused by him and probably beaten by him outside of battles. Alex and Sheila were thinking the same thing as they saw Simon push Lopunny back onto the field.

"Take her down now with Quick Attack!" Simone shouted as Lopunny rush towards Sheila at blinding speed.

"Intercept her with Vine Whip!" Alex shouted.

The Vines once again shot out from Sheila's collar towards the incoming Lopunny. Sheila aimed under her and once the vines were below Lopunny she shot them up, hitting her in the jaw and making her attack send her upward. While she was airborne Sheila raised her vines up and smacked her back down and towards Simon once again. Lopunny hit the ground hard, completely exhausted from the battle. Simon walked over to the fallen Lopunny who looked at him with an apologetic face.

"I swear... YOU'RE NOT USEFUL FOR ANYTHING!" Simon said as he kicked Lopunny who flew a few feet away from him.

"Alright, you beat the worthless bitch. Good for you, now for the real fight." Simon said, completely ignoring the cares of Lopunny, as he threw another Pokéball in the air. And what came out was the same faded colour Gallade that had attack Cosmo with Simon before, Hades appeared from the red light and stood next to Simon.

"Now hold on a minute. You shouldn't treat a Pokémon like that or anyone like that really." Alex said who was speaking for him and his friends as they all had enough of that.

Simon let out a sigh. "You got a problem with how I treat my Pokémon?" Simon said as Lopunny struggled to get to her feet.

"Did I say you could stand up?" Simon said as he walked over and backhanded Lopunny who went to the ground again.

Sheila, who couldn't take it anymore, was now furious. She knew these humans existed, but she never had the displeasure of meeting one until now. She wanted to bash his face and smack him with her vines, and that's exactly what she planned to do. Sheila charged towards Simon at high speed. But it wasn't his face she made contact with. Simon quickly swung his arm and punched Sheila's side. Sheila flew to the right even faster then she charged at Simon and smashed into a nearby tree. A loud crack was heard, thankfully it was from the tree, and bark flew in the air as the tree cracked and tipped from the impact. Sheila slide down the tree to the ground, completely unconscious.

"Sheila!" Alex shouted as he ran to her. Cosmo completely frozen at what just happened; Simon was strong and could even react fast enough to hit someone as fast a Sheila.

"Well that was pointless. But it seems this has now become more then a trainer battle." Simon said as he walked towards Alex and cracked his knuckles. "But for the record, it was your Pokémon that started it."

Cosmo saw that Simon intended to attack Alex now and began to run to his aid. But was stopped short as a blue spinning blade flew past her, she looked towards Hades who just used Psycho Cut.

"Hold on now little lady, your fight is with me." Hades said with a big maniacal smile.

Simon picked Alex up by the throat of his collar and looked at him directly in his eyes. "You're clearly new at this, but this world is a big place and if you're not careful... you look familiar."

Cosmo wanted to help Alex but this Gallade wasn't going to let her without a fight. Unfortunately Cosmo already knew that Hades was a lot stronger then her.

"Okay, now if you beg me I may only beat you a little. Or maybe not, who knows. But you never... wait a minute." Hades looked at Cosmo more closely. "Oh now this is just rich."

Hades began to laugh, getting Alex's and Simon's attention.

"What's so funny to you?" Simon asked.

"Simon, remember that time we went to Beacon town?"

Simon thought about it for a moment, and then it suddenly hit him. He began to laugh as well and threw Alex to the ground.

"Well what do you know, it's you two." Simon said as they now remember who Alex and Cosmo are. "Now that I think about it, I don't think I ever got your name."

"...it's Alex." He said.

"Ah Alex, yes I remember you. The kid who was so scared of losing his Gardevoir that he flat out lied of being a trainer and had to get the town to throw us out!" Simon spat at him.

"How long has it been? Two, three year's maybe?" Hades said between laughs.

"So what happened exactly?" Simon said as he walked away, still laughing. "You got so scared of me almost taking away your girlfriend that you became a trainer so no one else could have her? Are you trying to fill a burden left to you? Or maybe you thought you could see this world, only to be disappointed by what reality really is... or perhaps you think you can change it?"

Simone approached Lopunny who was still on the ground. "And you even have the nerve to judge me on my actions." Simon said as he stomped on Lopunny.

"Stop it." Alex muttered.

"What? This?" Simon said as he stomped her again. "Does this anger you?" He stomped her again.

"Leave her alone!" Alex shouted as he got up and charged at Simon. Alex's anger and rage swept over Cosmo, completely stunning her. She had never seen this side of him before.

Simon's smile only grew as Alex ran at him. "That's it get angry, show your true face. Show me your place in this world. Show me where we belong."

Alex didn't listen as he went to punch Simon. Strong and quick as Alex was from all those times chasing Cosmo, Simon simply grabbed his fist and punched him in the gut. Alex's body gave in from the pain and fell, his arm the only thing not pulled down by gravity as it was held by Simon. Alex grunted as he coughed blood.

Cosmo snapped out of her stunned state and rushed to Alex who was in need.

"Don't turn your back on me!" Hades said as he raised his leg and quickly smashed it down to the back of Cosmo's head that went face first into the now cracked ground.

Simon dropped Alex's arm and spat on the ground next to him.

"You know what, if you care about her so much, you can have her. You can all be worthless together." Simon said as he took out the Lopunny's Pokéball and dropped it to the ground. He then proceeded to smash it to bits with his foot. "Come on Hades, leave them all to rot."

Simon took a step but was stopped as something pulled on his leg. He looked down to see Lopunny holding on to his leg, tears in her eyes, begging him not to go.

"I told you this was your last chance, and I've had enough of you!" Simon said as he kicked her one more time in the face and knocking her unconscious.

Simon and Hades walked away from the fallen human and Pokémon. Cosmo struggled to get up and pull herself from the ground. Her face was heavily bruised and cut in some areas. She saw Alex on the ground holding his gut. She gathered the strength to stand and moved towards Alex. She fell to knees next to him and began to caress him with her hand.

"I'm alright." Alex managed to say.

Cosmo knew that was a lie. She felt horrible, she could do nothing to help him and he got hurt because of it. She felt helpless that she couldn't protect him, isn't that was she was suppose to do, what she promised Abigail? And she already failed. Alex tried to ignore the pain as he stood up, Gardevoir giving him aid lifting him. Alex looks at the still uncurious Sheila by the tree and took out a Pokéball. With no words he activated the return function and Sheila disappeared into the ball with a red right.

"Think you can help me carry her?" Alex asked Cosmo, who had just noticed now that Lopunny was still here but now unconscious. She couldn't exactly hear what happened after being smashed into the ground by Hades and looked confused at Alex.

"Simon abandoned her; apparently this was her last chance to redeem herself or something like that. Anyways we can't just leave her hear, if Simon wasn't lying Eterna if only about an hour walk down the path. There should be a Pokémon Center there where we can path all of us up. Think you can help me carry her there?"

Cosmo understood, it was just like Alex to help a complete stranger. But she didn't want him to use anymore strength then he had to. So Cosmo lifted Lopunny's motionless body into the air with Psychic.

"I-I didn't mean you had to..."

"(No Alex, just let me. You've done more than enough.)"

"... alright but just let me know if you need help."

As Cosmo carried Lopunny, the two walked towards Eterna city. Their first trainer battle and they were completely destroyed. One hit was all it took to beat each of them, if they were beaten that easily, what chance did they have in the world?

**/ / /**

It turned out Simon was telling the truth, as they had reached Eterna city in about an hour. They quickly made their way to the Pokémon, getting a few odd looks from people seeing a Gardevoir carrying an unconscious Lopunny with Psychic. They entered the Pokémon center, which was surprisingly empty, and Alex ran the bell at the desk. In less than a minute a woman appeared from a door wearing a pink and white nurse outfit with pink hair, Alex knew this woman as Nurse Joy or rather one of the many Nurse Joys in the world.

"Hello welcome to the... Oh my goodness!" Nurse Joy said in shock as she saw the state of Alex, Cosmo and Lopunny.

"I think its self explanatory why we're here." Alex said.

"Come on to the back. Is there anyone else?"

"A Snivy." Alex handed her Sheila's Pokéball. "She got smashed into a tree and is unconscious."

"Alright, Chansey bring a stroller!" Nurse Joy called her Pokémon assistants, in only a few seconds three Chansey appeared. The big egg shaped pink Pokémon, each with an egg in her pouch, ran towards Nurse Joy one rolling a stroller.

"Alright put Lopunny on it." Nurse Joy said to Cosmo, who put Lopunny on it gently. The Chansey with the stroller then began to roll her to a different room.

"Take this Pokéball; it has a Snivy in it." Nurse Joy handed Sheila's ball to the second Chansey who then walked off to another room.

"(You come with me please.)" The third Chansey said to Cosmo, who lead her to another room to get treated.

"And you come with me." Nurse Joy said to Alex.

"What me?"

"Yes, I have to treat you as well."

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine."

"Oh really?" Nurse Joy took a rag and wiped it on Alex's mouth, she then showed it to him which it was now coated with a light red. "You've coughed up blood. Now please come with me."

Alex knew it was better to not argue with a Nurse and followed her into the room. Nurse Joy checked up on Alex who told her that he was punched in the stomach. After Nurse Joy used a machine to check for any internal damage she left the room for a minute and came back with a clipboard and a capsule.

"Well luckily it doesn't look like anything is broken. The bad news is that you have minor internal bleeding in your chest area from that punch. But the good news is that it's barley any at all but it could worsen it not taken care of." Nurse Joy said.

"I see." Alex said, shocked by the fact that Simon was able to that with one punch.

"Your body should be able to heal it on its own, but just in case I want you to take this pill." Nurse Joy opened that capsule and dropped a red and blue pill in her hand. "It will speed up your cell repair structure and stop the bleeding quicker."

Alex thanked Nurse Joy and took the pill with a glass of water.

"So how are the others doing?"

"The Gardevoir and Snivy have only minor wounds, nothing that is any major problem. I'm going to check up on Lopunny now. You can wait in the lobby if you like."

"Thank you Nurse Joy." Alex said as he walked out to the lobby.

Meanwhile in the room Cosmo was in Chansey applying bandages to the cuts Cosmos face.

"(That's not really necessary is it?)" Cosmo asked her.

"(Better safe than sorry, we don't want that pretty face of yours looking beaten up all day.)" Chansey said with a smile.

Cosmo giggled at Chansey's humour. Chansey then went behind Cosmo to see if there were any spots of her back she missed. As she looked as saw something Cosmo's right should that was sticking out from her dress.

"(What's this?)" Chansey said as she pulled down the shoulder of her dress.

"(W-what are you doing?)" Cosmo asked as she was embarrassed of her clothes being taken off by a stranger.

Chansey was shocked by what she saw, a large black bite mark on the back of Cosmo's shoulder.

"(Oh my!)"

"(Don't worry about it.)" Cosmo said as she pulled her dress up. "(I got that a long time ago.)"

**/ / /**

Alex was now waiting in the still empty lobby, while he trusted Nurse Joy's word he still worried. But in little time he heard the door open, Alex looked up to see Cosmo run towards him smiling and immediately wrapped him in a warm hug. Alex returned the hug as he felt something land on his lap. He looked down to see Sheila on his lap and smiling at him.

Alex gave Sheila a pet on the head and said. "Good to see your all okay."

Nurse Joy walked in the room with a serious look on her face, but Alex didn't notice as he was busy hugging Cosmo and petting Sheila. Cosmo however took notice to her presence as it was filled with anger.

"Excuse me." Nurse Joy said getting their attention. "Alright Alex, now you're going to tell me everything you did to her or I'll call the authorities to take you away."

Alex didn't know how to respond to that, what was she talking about? "I'm sorry, but what do you mean?"

"Lopunny, what did you do to her?"

"What? I didn't do anything to her." Alex pleaded.

"Don't give me that!" Nurse Joy shouted, her patience running out. "Not only is she seriously hurt, but she hasn't eaten a proper meal in possibly a few weeks, she shows clear signs of past physical trauma and to top it off in her more private areas show signs of her being ra..."

"I'm not her trainer!" Alex interrupted her.

"...what?"

"She doesn't have a trainer... not anymore at least." Alex said

"What do you mean?" Nurse Joy asked.

Alex let out a sigh. "We ran into another trainer named Simon, he wanted to battle. After Lopunny lost he started to beat her. When we tried to stop him he and his Gallade beat us to a pulp, hence why we came here beat up. At the same time he smashed Lopunny's Pokéball and left her with us."

"I see, so he abandoned her."

Alex nodded.

"I'm sorry for accusing you." Nurse Joy apologised.

"It's alright. So those that mean Lopunny is in bad shape?"

"It's more than just physical pain." Nurse Joy said as she looked really worried.

"What do you mean exactly?"

"Well, don't you think it's odd how she would simply allow that to happen?"

Alex nodded, however Simon himself was strong enough to smash Sheila into a tree so it's not surprising if he simply forced her.

"I've seen cases like this before, whether they are forced to or not a Pokémon will obey its trainer without question simply because they think that their so called master is always right. However... I think it's much more serious in Lopunny's case. Based on how she reacted to me and Chansey and constantly asked where her master was... It's like that's all she knows in this world."

The trio that Nurse Joy was talking to were completely stunned by this. "W-what?" Alex muttered out.

"I can't say for certain but I believe it's how she was raised, she has spent her whole life like this and believes that this is what life is... all of it. It's difficult to put in words."

They couldn't believe what they were hearing, not only did Simon abuse this Pokémon. But he raised her to the point of thinking this was the way of life and what she was meant for, to essentially live her life as an abused slave and nothing more.

"Well... what can we do about it?" Alex asked.

"Hard to say, it takes a long time to completely break someone out of this. The best way is to show her a different light of the world... in a manner of speaking. But even then, it's impossible to tell how long or even if it can be done." Nurse Joy said with worry.

"Is there anything I could do to help?" Alex asked hoping he could at least do something.

Nurse Joy thought about it.

"(Always like you to help someone, even if it's a complete stranger Alex.)" Cosmo said to him happily that Alex was this nice of a person and tightened her hug on him. To which Alex smiled at her.

As Nurse Joy saw this an idea popped into her head. "Why don't you take her?"

This got Alex's full attention. "Wait, what?"

"You're a trainer right? Why don't you take her with you?"

"W-why me?"

"Simple, her." Nurse Joy pointed to Cosmo only adding to their confusion.

"I don't understand."

"I've seen enough Gardevoir in my lifetime to know that when a healthy one such as herself is happy near a human then that must be a good person. And I can see that she really likes you."

Cosmo giggled a bit and nuzzled Alex's cheek with her own only adding to what Nurse Joy said.

"So I'm thinking if you take Lopunny with you, maybe being around a nice person such as yourself may change her for the better and she'll break out of her rut." Nurse Joy said happily.

"Well if that's you think is best, I'll give it my best shot. But I should see if it's okay with her first."

"Well, I have a feeling she'll be quick to get a 'master' as quickly as possible, so you better grab her before she gets thinks she needs to go back to Simon." Nurse Joy said putting an emphasis on master. "Speaking of which, could you give me description of Simon so I can report the police to look out for him please?"

"Alright, he was a tall guy taller than me, had black hair, green eyes and wore a blue vest. That's all I can really remember of him."

"Okay." Nurse Joy said as she wrote all that down. "It should be enough to look out for him, you mentioned he had a Gallade too?"

"Yes, only his colours were... faded would be the best way to put it." Alex said as he described Hades.

"Well that helps; I don't know of anybody people that a Gallade like that. So he should be easier to spot." Nurse Joy said. "Alright, why don't you go an introduce yourself. It's probably better if you go by yourself so she doesn't feel surrounded, we don't want her anymore damaged then she already is."

Alex nodded as Nurse Joy showed them to where Lopunny was.

**/ / /**

Once they had reached the door, Alex entered the room alone. Lopunny was lying on her side facing away from the door. Alex turned around to shut the door, and when he turned back to look a Lopunny she was already facing his direction surprising Alex a little bit. The two just stared at each other; Alex didn't really know where to start but figured he might as well introduce himself.

"Hello, my name is Alex." He offered his hand for her to shake it, but she just continued to stare at him. Alex retreated his hand.

"Listen, ummmm... I'm not exactly sure how to say this but Simon isn't coming back for you." Alex said as he thought he might as well be honest with her.

"(I see, Master really has left me. I wasn't good enough, it's like he said I'm worthless.)" Lopunny said with a very disappointed and sad face.

"Whoa ummm it's okay." Ales said realising that wasn't helping. "Look on the bright side, you can start anew. It's probably for the best that's he's gone."

"(But he's all I had; he's all I ever had. Where will I be without a Master? What am I without a Master? Nothing that's what.)" Lopunny said as she began to tremble and shake in a depressed position.

"Hey it's okay..." But Lopunny continued to talk over him.

"(I did everything he said to my full extend, was it not enough? Was I not enough? Was there something else I was supposed to do? If Master thought I wasn't good enough then what is the point of me even existing? Why am I even alive?)"

"STOP!" Alex said to her as he ran to hug her. But that didn't stop her trembling. "Just stop"

While Alex couldn't understand her, Nurse Joy was right about everything. But seeing it first hand was something else. The look in her red eyes looked like that had lost meaning to Alex, everything she thought of herself was worthless to her, and she shouldn't even be alive to herself. Alex couldn't stand this, he had to help her.

"Listen if you really desire someone to be with... then be with me." Alex said.

Lopunny's face changed at those words, her trembling stopped; she looked at Alex who was still holding on to her. "(Are you saying you will be my Master?)"

"Yes." Alex was sure she worded it a different and not the way he wanted, but at this point he didn't care. So long as she cared of herself enough to exist.

"(Very well Master, I shall follow your every command.)" Lopunny said as she returned his hug. "(Shall you capture me now Master?)" Lopunny said as she pointed at a Pokéball that she could see in Alex's open jacket.

"Alright." Alex took one of his empty Pokéballs and lightly tapped her with it. The ball opened and engulfed Lopunny in a red light with them took her into it. Once the ball dinged Alex released her.

"(I'm yours to command Master, what shall we do?)" Lopunny asked with a bow.

Alex didn't really like how obedient she was already being, but this was to be expected. He could really force her to stop something like that; it would contradict the whole point. But Alex needed to do something to make her feel more welcome. He then thought of what he did for Cosmo and Sheila.

"Would you like me to give you a name?" Alex asked.

"(If that is what you wish Master.)" She said once again with a bow.

"Alright." Alex thought about it, but he didn't really know what to call her. When he hugged her he felt her fur, if was really soft. Soft like... "Cotton."

"(Very well Master, my name is Cotton.)" Lopunny said.

Alex just realised he blurted that out, but at the same time the name Cotton did fit her.

"Okay Cotton, glad you like it. Come on, let's go." Alex said as Cotton followed him out of the room.

Outside the room Nurse Joy, Cosmo and Sheila were waiting for him.

"Well everyone, meet the newest member of our team, Cotton." Alex aid as Cotton emerged from behind him. "Cotton this is Cosmo and Sheila." Alex said as he pointed to each of them.

"(Hello)" Cosmo said to her.

"(Nice to meet you, well meet you again.)" Sheila said trying to lighten up the mood with subtle humour.

Cotton merely nodded to them.

"Here." Nurse Joy handed Alex a key. "You can stay here tonight; guest rooms are on the second floor."

"Thank you."

**/ / /**

The four of them made their way upstairs to room B24 which was indicated on the key. Alex opened the room to find a decent hotel like setting. A bed, a TV, a bathroom, some dressers, a fridge to store any food you had and the center had a cafeteria in the back so that covered food. Pretty much a place to spend a few nights if you're a trainer and it's all for free.

The sun was beginning to set now and Alex figured it was a long day and decided to get some sleep.

"I'm just going to use the bathroom then we'll head to bed okay?" Alex said getting a nod from everyone.

Alex went in the bathroom while the Pokémon roamed around the room. Cotton went straight for the bed.

"(I suppose we should get ready.)" Cotton suddenly said.

This got the other Pokémon's attention. "(Get ready for what, sleep?)" Sheila asked.

"(Sleep, why would we go to sleep now?)" Cotton asked.

Cosmo and Sheila looked confused now. "(Why wouldn't we go to sleep now why else would we go to bed?)" Cosmo said.

Now it was Cotton that looked confused. "(Doesn't Master want us to pleasure him?)"

Cosmo and Sheila were completely taken back by this.

"(Pleasure him?)" Cosmo asked in a force calm voice as she had a very good idea why Cotton would ask something like that.

"(Yes, almost every night, my previous Master had me pleasure him when we went to bed.)" Cotton said, her voice her not shifting from a normal tone at all.

"(And what exactly do you mean by 'pleasure'?)" Sheila asked even though she and Cosmo already knew the answer.

"(We would have sex of course.)" Cotton said, her tone of voice still not changing.

"(Really?)" Cosmo said once again holding back her rage. Her eye even began to twitch as a result.

"(Yes, every night Master would force me onto the bed and I would lay and... )"

"(Stop, stop.)" Sheila put her hands forward and cut Cotton off. "(We don't need to know the details.)"

"(So every night, your 'master' would have sex with you?)" Cosmo asked her eye still twitching.

"(Well, sometimes he would bring the other Pokémon in and I would have to pleasure them to since I was the only female there.)" Cotton said in the same voice. "(And since we're all girls I'm sure we'll be able to give Master all the pleasure he wants.)"

Cosmo could barely keep her rage in check as she stood there and listened to what she was being told. Things in the room began to shake as her rage was taking control of her body and psychic powers. Sheila quickly noticed this and looked at Cosmo; she then nearly jumped out of her skin at the face of pure held back rage on Cosmo. Her eyes were twitching glowing a deep red and flashing a pale blue every second. Sheila nudged Cosmo to get her attention, who then looked down at her like she was about to rip her head off. But Sheila didn't flinch; she motioned her arm at her waving down, signalling her to tone it down. Cosmo understood the message and knew she needed to calm down. She closed her eyes, put a hand on her chest and let out a deep breath. Object in the room stopped shaking and Cosmo's eyes returned to normal as she opened them.

"(Well I don't mean to burst your bubble Cotton, but we won't be 'pleasuring' Alex. Now or ever.)" Cosmo said.

"(Why not?)" Cotton asked.

"(To put it simply, Alex isn't like that.)" Sheila said.

"(Oh okay.)" Cotton said, as Alex had opened the door to the bathroom in his pajamas.

"Well, I think it's time I head to bed." Alex said as he let out a yawn.

Cotton moved to the side as Alex climbed into the bed, she face away from him however. But Alex didn't have much time to think about that as Cosmo as jumped on his other side and was already snuggling next to him. She needed to get what had happened today out of her head and be a peace with herself, and Alex's presence can do just that for her. But before Cosmo could bury her face into Alex's chest like normal Sheila had jumped up and began to get comfortable on Alex's chest. Seeing as how most of the bed was taken by the three others Sheila decided to use Alex as her bed tonight. She curled up and lay down into his chest with a yawn. Cosmo thought that looked really cute and decided to let it go and rest her head on Alex's arm. Alex used his free arm to give Sheila a little pet, whose body curved more into his hand as he ran it along her. He then used it to run his fingers through Cosmo's hair, to which she gave a purr like moan to it. He then gave Cotton a pet along the back of her head and shoulders; she gave no reaction to it.

All four of them soon fell asleep, all at peace with each other.

**...**

**Fun fact; Cosmo, Sheila and Cotton are all Pokémon I have raised. **

**And speaking of Cosmo a small number of people think that her name is too 'masculine' as most of them put it. Well I got news for you; Cosmo is a male and female name much like how Alex is. But I can understand why they think that, when most people hear the name Cosmo they probably think of Cosmo from Fairy OddParents. But when I hear Cosmo I think of the Gardevoir I raised or Cosmo from Sonic X. But it's my story I do what I want ;P**

**And if any of you still have a problem with Cosmo's name, I got three words for you... SUCK IT UP!**

**Another thing about the whole final team member, I have gotten a few suggestions I think I can work with and have already started think about how to put them in. But nothing is written in stone yet so if you still want to suggest something, or suggest another one. Go ahead**

**One more thing and this is about the updates. While I am aware I should update this thing more then I should, if you guys have been keeping track this story gets updates within a maximum of two months tops. And not to toot my own horn but to be honest, that's actually really good for this site compared to most stories out there, well 'good' stories. So listen if you're ever wondering when the next chapter is coming out, just know it will come out within two months of the last one unless something happens in which case I will tell you about said event. Like say the file got corrupted or something and the two months is almost up, I'll let you guys know.**

**Anyways be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think. **


	10. Grass lover

**It figures that the next chapter would be delayed right after I say I'll tell you guys if it's going to be delayed. Which by the way was mentioned on my profile and in my other story, but it seems a few of you (you know who you are) either didn't bother to read the messages or simply ignored them and complained to me. Be it in review or PM. Still, at least it's good to know that about 90% of my readers aren't assholes.**

**So Gardevoir is now a Fairy type... well I don't think I ever mentioned that Cosmo is a 'pure' Psychic type so I think I'm good in that regard. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.**

**...**

Alex was the first to wake in the morning as the sun beamed down on him through the window. He seemed to be the first to always wake in the group, but he didn't mind as he got to see his friend sleeping peacefully in the bed with him. Cosmo snuggling his right side with her arms wrapped around his own, Sheila curled cozily on his chest. He then looked to his newest member Cotton. The Lopunny was now lying on her back; the blank look on her face that she usually carried was still there, but at the same time she seemed at little at ease. Alex decided to take that as it was, at least she seems to have enjoyed her sleep. Still though, there was one problem Alex had to deal with like he did every morning.

"Getting up." He said to himself.

The whole right side of his body was practically taken over by the Gardevoir so he couldn't move that. Sheila was on his chest, only moving up and down because of Alex's breathing. His legs couldn't really do anything of use. So that only left his left arm. He really didn't want to disrupt this peaceful scene, but especially with Sheila on his chest he couldn't leave the bed without doing it. Alex brought his hand up to the Snivy and began to lightly pet her, her body curved into his hand and her eyes slowly flutter opened. She looked to Alex and a small smile appeared on her face as she stretched up with a yawn. Alex went to give her one more pet but instead she grabbed his hand and led it to under her chin. Practically forcing Alex to scratch her chin making her upper body stretch upward so he could get more of her sweet spot, she even gave a little moan from Alex's touch.

"Have a good sleep?" Alex asked the Snivy.

"(Yes, you make a good pillow.)" She said with a giggle.

Alex lifted his chest up as Sheila hopped off him, giving his arm a little wiggle and began to slowly pull it out from Cosmo's grasp causing her to stir in her sleep a bit. The embrace Pokémon's grip began to tighten on his arm as she felt it begin to pull away from her. Alex sighed and figured he should just get it over with. He once again began to pet her head to wake her up and like before causing her to purr. Cosmo's grip began to loosen as her eyes slowly opened to see Alex's face. Alex pulled his arm away from her and used to same arm to give her one more pet on the top of her head.

"Good morning girl." Alex said.

Now finally free to get out of bed, Alex began to get himself up and get off the end of the bed. But a pair of green arms wrapped around him before he could get far.

"(Good morning.)" Cosmo said softly as she nuzzled the back of his neck.

As much as Alex would've liked to stay in her warm embrace, he pulled himself away after a minute of the Gardevoir's hug. Now finally out of the bed, the only one left to wake was the newest member Cotton. Alex looked over the Lopunny who was breathing lightly as she slept peacefully on the bed. Alex lightly began to brush her cheek with his fingers, her short soft fur gliding through them. She quietly moaned as Alex continued her rub her cheek. Her eyes soon opened.

"Sleep well?" The boy asked.

"(Yes, is it time to get up Master?)" She asked.

"Time to wake up; I'm glad you had a good sleep." Alex said, hoping his kindness would rub off on her.

"Okay girls, I'm going to get dressed. I'll be out soon." He said as he entered the bathroom to change out of his pajamas.

The three female Pokémon were now in the room in silence, a little unsure of what to do while they waited. After a moment, Sheila decided to break the silence with a question.

"(So what exactly happened?)"

"(Hmm?)" Cosmo wondered what she meant.

"(With that stupid trainer we fought yesterday, he hit me and I remember flying. Then it was all blank after that.)"

(Oh Simon, well... he punched you into a tree.)" Cosmo said.

Sheila looked a little shocked "(Really?)"

"(Yes, you were out on impact.)"

Sheila looked down. "(Damn, guy's strong... and quick. Especially for a human.)"

"(Yes, he always was a scary one.)"

Sheila looked up at Cosmo curiously. "(Wait, have you met him before?)"

"(Yes, a few years ago back in Beacon town. He... tried to catch me.)" Cosmo started to look depressed as those memories came back to her. "(He hurt Alex, me, and even Cotton.)"

Cosmo pointed over to the Lopunny sitting on the bed as she finished her sentence. "(In fact, that's when we first met wasn't it?)"

Cotton merely nodded to answer her. "(But the scary part is, I sense nothing from him.)"

"(What do you mean?)"

"(You know I can sense emotions right?)" Cosmo said getting a nod from the Snivy. "(They sort of emit form Human and Pokémon, anything that's sentient. But for him... there was nothing.)"

"(Really?)" Sheila looked a little curious about that. "(You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?)" She asked Cotton.

"(Well my Master... or my old Master, didn't really tell me anything about him. He really only let me out to pleasure him, learn things and sometimes to eat.)"

While Cosmo and Sheila cringed at how Cotton said Simon had treated her once again, yet that still left this mystery unanswered.

"(Well... I guess it's one way of saying that he has a no heart right? Maybe we should just leave it at that... for now anyways.)" Sheila said.

"(Okay, I guess that's all we can do for now.)"

The bathroom door then opened with Alex emerging from the room, now dressed in his normal clothes.

"Okay, now let's see if we can find the two arguing siblings." Alex said referring to Brendan and Jessica.

* * *

><p>The group were now walking through Eterna city, not exactly sure of where to search they decided to check the edge first as a place to start. Cotton had wanted to go back into the Pokéball, probably because that's what she use was to, Alex did comply but made a note to slowly get her use to traveling outside the ball soon. Sheila was resting on Alex's shoulder while Cosmo was walking next to him and holding his hand, basically the usual for them at this point. They had made it about have out to their destination when...<p>

"'Gasp' A Snivy!" Said a very excited voice form behind them.

Sheila suddenly found herself taken off Alex's shoulder, much to her surprise, and now being cuddled by the stranger.

Alex and Cosmo turned around to see a woman with orange hair but black underneath and orange eyes. She wore a black top that covered only the top of her chest and arms, leaving her lower torso and belly button exposed. On top of that she had a small green cloak that only reached her waist and elbows. Orange shorts that had rips on the bottom to her knees, suggesting they were once pants. And green boots to end her choice of unique style. They just watched as the woman continued to rub her cheek onto Sheila, who was now squirming to get away.

"She's so cute, I just love her love her love her." The woman said in a happy voice.

"(H-Help me.)" Sheila said as she desperately reached out to them.

Cosmo giggle. "(Awwww you've made a new friend. I think she likes you.)"

Sheila rolled her eyes. "(Oh yes, this is very sweet. We're getting along so gre-HELP ME!)"

The woman stopped cuddling her and pranced over to Alex. "Hello, would you mind trading me this Snivy?"

"Ummmmmm..." Alex didn't know how to respond.

"I have many other grass types I'm sure you'll like, how about a Turtwig? Or maybe an Oddish? Or a..."

The woman didn't get to finish as Sheila slapped her cheek with one of her vines, the woman's gripped loosened and she took this opportunity to jump out and back to Alex's shoulder, which she then made sure she had a firm grip on him to make sure she didn't get pulled away again.

"Ouch, talk about tough love." The woman said as she rubbed her cheek.

"Ummm, sorry but I'm not looking to trade her. And I don't think she wants to be either." Alex said as Sheila gave the woman a 'hmph'

"Hehehe, ya I'm sorry. I've never seen a Snivy before and I just love grass types. So I got a little carried away." The woman said as she rubbed the back of her neck.

"It's fine."

"Well my name is Gardenia." She said as she held out her hand.

"I'm Alex." He said as he shook it. "This is Cosmo and Sheila." He said as he pointed to them.

"Oh my, what a pretty friend you have there." Gardenia said as she moved closer to examine Cosmo. "I've never seen a Gardevoir before either."

Cosmo started to get a little nervous at this stranger eyeing her over. She took a step back and her grip tightened to Alex's hand. This did not go unnoticed by Gardenia though.

"Oh don't worry, I'm not going to snuggle you to death. I... hehe... learned my lesson." She said as she rubbed her cheek where Sheila had slapped her.

This did seem to calm the embrace Pokémon down a bit. But she was still shy from human strangers as she always was.

"Anyways, I should get going. I need to be somewhere right now and as much as I'd like to get to know you three more, I really shouldn't distract myself." Gardenia said as she started to walk away. "Take care; I hope to see you again soon."

"Bye, hopefully we will." Alex said as they exchanged waves to each other.

"Ok, now we should get back on track and get to the edge of the city."

It didn't take them long to see the edge of the city in their sights. Alex knew the chances of them being there were small, but it was the only place he could think to start looking. It was possible they were already in the city; they may have even arrived before them. But he didn't see Brendan or Jessica in the Pokémon center and that is usually were travelling trainers spend the night to his knowledge. It was possible they stayed at a hotel, but he didn`t know if Eterna had any.

"We really should have planned this better." Alex said to himself.

A ringing noise was then heard, startling Alex and making him jump a bit as the sound was coming from his pocket. He reached in to find that the source was from his Pokédex. He opened it up and pressed the flashing icon on the touch screen. The screen changed to reveal a box with Brendan's face inside it.

"Hey, you in Eterna yet?" Brendan immediately said.

Alex was in a daze at what's happening with Brendan suddenly appearing in his Pokédex. Then his memory flew back to him that Prof. Juniper said that their Pokédex had an X-Transceiver built in it which was a commutation device. Alex could only guess that their numbers were already registered in them.

"Hello? Alex?" Brendan said as he snapped his fingers.

"Huh... oh sorry I kind of dazed out for a bit there." Alex admitted.

"I believe you."

Cosmo and Sheila now peer down into the screen. Sheila seemed to be familiar with the device but Cosmo looked very curious to how Brendan could fit inside a little box.

"Anyways, I'll ask again. Are you in Eterna yet?"

"Yes, in fact I was just looking for you and Jessica."

"Ok, I just got here. Where are you?"

"I'm heading towards the south gate to see if you were there." Alex said.

"Oh..." Brendan said as his head turned to the right on the screen. "I'm... right across the street from you."

Alex, Cosmo and Sheila turned their heads to the other side of the street to see Brendan and the Piplup Empress facing the opposite direction they were walking.

"Huh, how bout that?" Alex said as he closed the Pokédex to end the call.

The trio crossed that street and exchanged their greeting with each other and soon took seats on a nearby bench.

"So, how long have you been here?" Brendan asked.

"Got in yesterday."

"Of course you did, remind me never to get directions from my sister again."

"'sigh'... What happened?" Alex asked knowing something went wrong.

"Turns out that forest path actually turns and leads away from Eterna, I actually had to backtrack and take the same path you did. I can't believe I was dumb enough to thin she could read a map properly."

"Jeez, so I only took the right path?"

"Yep." Brendan leaned back "I tried calling Jessica to see where she was, but she never answered. She probably got lost."

"What do you know about it?!" They heard a familiar voice shout.

Everyone's head turned at once to see Jessica, carrying Toro in her arms, running over to them. She soon reached them and stopped to catch her breath.

"Well hello miss navigator, finally decided to show up?" Brendan taunted her.

"Screw... you." She said in huffs.

"And what's your story?" Alex asked

"I thought ... the blue paths on the map were a shortcut because they were so many of them." Jessica said as she had almost regained her breath now.

Brendan let out a big sigh. "Did you really follow a river?"

"Not a word, I got cut off to many times because of a branching river. I don't wanna hear it." She let out one more big breath and stood up straight, now looking proud. "But... it wasn't all bad."

This got the boys attention. "How so?" They asked in unison.

"Let's go outside the city, I'll show you." Jessica said excitedly as she took off back outside the gate.

Brendan and Alex looked at each other and shrugged as they followed Jessica.

* * *

><p>After catching up to her, Jessica began to lead them to a clearing off the road outside of Eterna. She began to walk backwards and speak to them.<p>

"So, find any Pokémon on your way here?"

"Well, I found many in the woods that you sent me in which lead in the wrong direction!" Brendan said. "Most of which were not friendly."

"Uhhhh... unimportant details." She said quickly. "I mean did you catch any new Pokémon out there?"

Brendan sighed. "Ya, I got one."

"Uhhh, me too I guess." Alex said reminding them that he was there, though he didn't exactly catch Cotton.

"So we're all tied at getting two Pokémon then. I aim to beat you all eventually." Jessica said as if it was a competition.

"Wait, two? Don't you mean three for me?" Alex asked.

"No, you're cheating by having Cosmo with you. That's unfair." Jessica smiled. "In fact, I think she'll be a lot better if she went with me instead."

Alex smiled back and held his head up high. "Oh like that will happen, right Cosmo?" Alex looked over expecting a nod or something from her. But to his surprise she wasn't beside him like normal. Alex looked ahead to see that she was already walking next to Jessica.

"Hey!" Alex said only to get Cosmo to stick her tongue out at him.

"Ya, that's what I'm talking about. Girl power!" Jessica proclaimed as she gave Cosmo a fist bump.

"Well, you're girl just got swiped. How does that make you feel?" Brendan taunted him sounded like a therapist.

"This is why we can't have nice things." Alex grumbled.

"Oh relax Alex, even if I could somehow separate you two I wouldn't. You look too cute together. Besides, I doubt you'd get very far without her." Jessica said while giving Cosmo a little pet on the head, to which she giggled.

"You sound like my mother."

Everyone but Alex laughed at that, though he did fail to hide a little smile that formed on his face. Jessica looked around and figured this area was good to show what she brought them here for.

"Okay then, now I'm sure it's obvious that I caught a Pokémon too. Can you guess what it is?" Jessica asked with a big sly smile. "I'll give you a hint, it's a water type."

Brendan was the first to answer. "Well you caught it in the river obviously, and I'm sure there are many water types that live there. The ones that are mostly native in this vary between a few types. But based on the way you're acting I'd say you got something rather rare, so..."

"Get to the point!" Jessica shouted as she was starting to fall asleep.

"A Buizel."

Jessica made a buzzing sound and gave a thumb down. "Wrong!"

It was now Alex's turn to guess.

"Come on Alex, it's something I think suits me."

Alex really didn't know how to answer, so he just said the first water type that came to mind. "I don't know, a Tentacool?"

Jessica's eyes widened at that, the thought of tentacles now penetrating her mind. She quickly shook her head to get it out though. "I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that." She said grumpily.

"Come on Alex, that's just sick." Brendan added.

"What, what'd I say?" Alex said, completely oblivious to what he suggested.

"Anyways..." Jessica quickly moved the topic along. "... since neither of you got it. It will be much more of a surprise when you see this."

Jessica quickly tossed a Pokéball into the air. The ball opened and the red light materialised into what was contained inside. The light grew large, much larger than anyone else present, a long neck grew out upwards from the large center of light, a head came out of the top with a small horn and large curled ears, four fins and a tail spread out along the ground of it, it's back showed bumps and edged on it. The light faded to reveal a large light blue creature with a cream underside and grey shell on its back.

Alex, Brendan and the rest of the Pokémon stood in awe of the Lapras right in front of them.

"Y-you actually found... a Lapras." Brendan said.

"Yep, her name is Glacier."

"Whoa, she's beautiful." Alex said.

"_Why thank you."_ A gentle serine voice echoed in their heads.

Everyone but Jessica, Toro and Cosmo looked around to find the source of the voice. But Alex quickly realized who said it as he had experienced it before.

"No way..." Alex said in disbelief.

"Yep, that's one of the best things about her. She can use telepathy!" Jessica said proudly.

"_It's a pleasure to meet all of all you. Jessica has told me all about you." _Glacier said.

"So you two met in the river?" Brendan asked.

"_Yes, she was trying to jump across but kept falling in. After I was done laughing I decided to help her." _Glacier said with a giggle.

"... They didn't need to know that part." Jessica mumbled but Glacier continued anyways.

_"After I help her across the rivers to get her back on the path, I asked if I could travel with her so I can see more of the world. The ocean may be vast, but I'm curious on what's on the land and well..." _She looked down to her flippers. "_As you can see my kind aren't very mobile on land."_

"And that's how I made a new friend." Jessica said as she pet Glacier's head. "I'd promised I'd take her places and she practically jumped for joy."

"Not to break the moment but... can a Lapras even jump?" Alex asked.

"_Well... I tried to jump for joy."_

"Well that's my new friend, what about you two?"

Brendan pulled out a Pokéball. "Found this guy in the forest, wouldn't stop following me to try and swipe my snacks."

Brendan tossed the ball in the air, what came out was a bird shaped creature with its feathers coloured a mix of black and grey, white on its face and chest. A large grey circle covered most of its forehead, black covering the tip of its beak and sharp talons. The middle tail feather stood out with a silver colour and its feathers curled up on top of its head in a crest like shape.

"This is Silverwing the Staravia." Brendan introduced him.

The Starling Pokémon took a bow. "(Greetings.)"

"Oh, he's well mannered." Jessica said.

"I have reason to believe it's all an act." Brendan said.

"Why's that?" Alex asked.

"Give it time; I'm sure his colours will show."

"And now you." Jessica said while pointing to Alex. "You find anyone out there?"

Alex hesitated to answer, while he did find Cotton he was a little worried to let her out. How exactly would she react to them?

"Well I did, but she's a... special case."

"Oooooh a 'special' case, a shiny Pokémon maybe?" Jessica asked.

"No, just... I don't really know how to explain it." Alex said while rubbing the back of his neck. Cosmo and Sheila could see that Alex was a bit hesitant to bring Cotton out, the former of who was also able to sense his worry.

"Just show us Alex, it will be easier that way." Brendan said.

"... alright."

Alex took out Cotton's ball and released the Lopunny in front of him. Cotton faced Alex and bowed to him.

"Hello Master, what do you wish for me to do?" She asked.

"(Ummmm, nothing its okay.)" Alex said.

Cotton looked a little confused by this. "(Are you sure you don't need me for anything Master?)"

Alex wanted this to end fast. "Just ummm... enjoy some fresh air then."

"(Yes Master.)" She said with bowing to him again.

It didn't take Brendan and Jessica long to figure out Cotton's attitude.

"Alex..." Brendan said with a glare at him.

"... What did you do?" Jessica finished who shared the same glare.

"Why is it you that two always assume that I'm the bad guy?"

"Because you fit that part very well." They both said in unison.

"Very funny... but I'm not the reason she's like... this." Alex said. "You see... do you remember Simon?"

"You mean that guy you told us about that tried to take Cosmo a while back?" Brendan said.

"Yes, we ran into him again." Alex looked at Cotton who was now wandering around with the other Pokémon. "He didn't recognize me at first, but he wanted to battle. He sent Cotton out first... but Sheila was able to beat her. He didn't like that."

"What happened?" Jessica asked with concern.

"He then proceeded to beat Cotton himself. When we tried to stop him he smashed Sheila into a tree, made me cough up blood and had his Gallade put Cosmo head first into the ground. He then left us all there including Cotton having abandoned her."

"That's just... awful." Jessica said with disgust.

"It gets worse. Simon abused her and made her think she was nothing but a slave. It practically warped her mind to make her think that and all she thinks she's good for is to serve her 'master'. Nurse Joy suggested I take her with me hoping I could ease her out of this mindset."

"I see... any progress?" Brendan asked.

"Well... I named her Cotton."

"Well... that's a start I guess." Jessica said.

While the three of the talked the Pokémon were over to the side having a conversation of their own.

"(So is everything going well for you two as well?)" Toro asked his former lab partners.

"(Oh ya, this is much better than spending all day at the lab in Unova.)" Sheila said with glee.

"(No complaints here.)" Empress said.

"(Wait... all of you are from Unova?)" Cosmo asked. She expected Sheila to be as Snivy were native to Unova. But Torchic and Piplup are mostly found in Hoenn and Sinnoh.

"(Born and raised.)" Toro said.

"(Both our parents migrated there some time ago. They stayed at Juniper's lab and that's where we were born.)" Empress explained.

"(Interesting, I assume that goes for you too?)" Glacier asked Sheila.

"(No actually... I've never met my parents.)" Sheila stated.

Cosmo was the most shocked by this. "(W-what? Why?)"

"(I don't know.)" Sheila shrugged "(Just hatched in the lab. Juniper said she found my egg and no one came back for me.)"

Cosmo felt sorry for her. Gardevoir and Gallade take special care to look after their young and newborns, she was certain that other Pokémon like Serperior did the same thing. Yet she didn't sense any sadness from Sheila as they discussed it. Did she really not care about them or had she gotten over it already?

"(So what was it like at the lab?)" Glacier asked.

"(Oh there was a big field for us to run around in. We usually played there. But sometimes Sheila would go too far out.)" Empress said.

"(I just wanted to explore a bit but that damn Alakazam kept stopping me.)" Sheila pouted.

"(Ya you would always get a lecture from Apollo every time you tried. And he always got you too.)" Toro teased her.

"(It wasn't fair, teleporting is a cheap move.)"

"(Hey!)" Cosmo spoke up. "(I teleport too you know!)"

"(I stand by my statement.)"

Meanwhile the humans decided they should have lunch now. Jessica set down a blanket for them to sit on while Brendan got out some utensils. Alex started to take out the food starting with a bag of cookies. The ruffling of the bag got the attention of Silverwing, who had been very quiet until now, in a blink of an eye he was off the ground and flying towards Alex.

"(Mine.)" He said as he grabbed the bag of cookies out of Alex's hand and took off.

It took Alex a few seconds to come to terms with what just happened. He looked over to see the Starling Pokémon now sitting in a tree munching on the cookies in the now ripped open bag.

"Wait... what?" Alex stuttered.

"See what I mean?" Brendan said. "True colours."

* * *

><p>After they finished lunch everyone headed back into Eterna city. Jessica insisted that they go to the gym right away. Which pretty much meant that was the plan for the group.<p>

"I think this is it." Jessica said as she point at the large building in front of them with big door with a sign labeled "GYM" above it.

"What was your first clue?" Brendan teased.

"Now..." Jessica stared but was cut off by Alex.

"Can we just go in?" Alex didn't feel like waiting for them to finish arguing when their destination was right in front of them.

They group entered the building where they saw what looked to be some sort of greenhouse. The entire main room was filled with plants, trees and lush grass. A woman soon approached them.

"Hello welcome to the Eterna Gym. My name is Gardenia. Hmmm..." Gardevoir then saw that she recognized a few of the guests. "... oh hey it's you!"

"I didn't expect to find you here Gardenia." Alex said.

"You know her?" Jessica said.

"Ya we met in the street earlier today. She really liked Sheila." Alex pointed to the Snivy on his shoulders who was gripping them tightly to make sure she doesn't get grabbed again.

"But why didn't you expect her to be here?" Brendan asked.

"Ummm, because I didn't ask where she worked I guess. I didn't really get to know her in the few minutes I talked to her."

Brendan sighed. "So... you don't know that Gardenia is the Gym Leader here?"

"What!" Alex and Jessica said in shock.

"Hehe ya, I kind of thought you knew." Gardenia said.

"Sometimes I think that I'm the only one here who looks into things." Brendan said.

Jessica looked slightly irritated. "Hey, I know things too!"

"How many badges are required to get into the Pokémon league?" Brendan asked without hesitation.

Jessica's irritated look switched to that of a nervous one. "Ummm... ummm."

"It's ... eight, right?" Alex answered.

"Correct, at least you have common knowledge." Brendan said.

"I knew that, I just didn't remember right away."

"I've heard that before."

"Says the guy who forgot Mom's birthday."

"That was one time! And I was six!"

Alex put his hand on his forehead as they began to argue with what sounded like gibberish as usual. "At least we made in the building."

Alex looked over to Gardenia who had a bit of a dumbfounded look on her face. "This... kind of makes me glad I'm an only child."

"Me too."

* * *

><p>After Brendan and Jessica calmed down, Gardenia accepted their challenge and leg them to an area in the middle of the room. The area was shaped like any normal Pokémon battle area, only it was on grass.<p>

"Ok, now three questions. Do each of you have at least two Pokémon?" Gardenia asked the trainer, getting a nod from each. "Good, we'll all have a two on two battles then. Also how many badges do you have?"

"This will be the first gym for all of us." Alex answered.

"Alright then, I'll use the recommend Pokémon for that. Lastly who's going first?"

They all looked each other, only just now realising they never determined an order. They all nodded and seemed to agree on a method of choosing.

"One... two... three." The three of the said in unison as they raised their hands and brought them down. Alex and Jessica's hands were shown to be a fist, while Brendan's was open and flat horizontal. Making him the winner of Rock, Paper, Scissors.

"Haha I win, as expected." Brendan cheered.

"Oh come on like you knew." Jessica said.

"You always pick rock..." Jessica looked at him furiously like she about to shout at him, but Alex cut her off.

"What about me then?"

"It was either you pick the same or a tie."

Brendan walked up to the position for the challenger to stand while Gardenia went to the other side. Alex, Cosmo, Sheila and Jessica with Toro in her arms all sat down on the bleachers to the sides. A referee walked up to a pedestal on the middle of the sideline.

The ref made an announcement. "This will be a two on two battle between leader Gardenia and Challenger Brendan. The match will end when both Pokémon are unable to battle on one side, in addition only the challenger may switch Pokémon. And now BEGIN!"

"Okay, go Carnivine!" Gardenia tossed her Pokéball into the air and released the Bug Catcher Pokémon. Carnivine landed on the field, though it then began to float with his roots grazing over the ground. He opened his large green mouth and let out a snarl to show he was ready.

"Alright, go Empress!" The Piplup ran from his side onto the battlefield.

"Why would he send out Empress... she is a water type right?" Jessica asked.

"He's probably got a plan." Alex said.

Gardenia made the first move. "Now Carnivine, use Vine Whip!"

Two vines shot out from Carnivine's leaf like arms and charged towards Empress.

"Bide!" Brendan called out.

The Piplup's held her position and her body began to glow white. The vines smacked her a few times but she barely flinched and held her stance.

"Trying to wait this out are ya? We'll just take you down before you can unleash it; keep attacking with Vine Whip Carnivine!"

Carnivine continued to barrage Empress with his attacks. Her body continued to glow white as she stood her ground. Everyone watched as her determined look to hold out was glued to her face. Brendan thought it should be enough now and made the call.

"Now unleash!" Empress's body glowed white to the point where she couldn't be seen anymore. The light turned into a beam and charged directly at Carnivine.

Gardenia however did not look that worried. "Quickly use Ingrain!"

At her word Carnivine shot out roots into the ground that began to glow. The beam shoot out from the Bide attack hit Carnivine directly causing an explosion. Brendan looked at the dust rising believing to have beating his opponent but when the dust settled Carnivine was still up, looking exhausted but still floating there with roots in the ground absorbing nutrients.

"That would have worked." Gardenia said. "But with Carnivine able to recover his health like this he was able to save enough energy to take the attack. Now he's regaining his strength while Piplup is not."

"True, but just look at him. He took a lot of damage and he's only getting his energy back slowly." Brendan said. He looked down at Empress but he noticed a faint aura start to form around her. "Empress return."

Brendan quickly called back the Piplup into her Pokéball, confusing Gardenia a bit. "Now go Silverwing!"

The Staravia was released from his ball and took to the air. "We need to be beat him quick, get in close with Quick Attack!"

"Shoot him down with Bulletseed!"

As Silverwing began to charge at Carnivine, the latter opened his large mouth and began to rapidly fire seeds at high speed. Silverwing instinctively began to weave around in the air to avoid them. But it would only be a matter of time for him to get hit the closer he got.

'_Charging head on like this is a bad idea' _"Evade to the side!" Brendan shouted.

Silverwing change his direction and curved to the right, Carnivine also rotated to adjust his aim. But the flying type's speed was causing the bullets to fall short behind him. Silverwing began to circle around while at the same time getting closer to Carnivine, much like how a shark circles its potential prey. Silverwing soon struck Carnivine head on with Quick attack in his chest. The impact caused Carnivine to stop his attack and tumble.

"Finish with Wing Attack!"

Both of Silverwing's glowed white and he slash them at the grass type with an X pattern. Carnivine was knocking to the ground from the attack, although his position remained in the same place due to ingrain. He attempted to get up but immediately fell back down and fainted.

"Carnivine is unable to battle!" The ref called.

"Very nice work Brendan." The gym leader called out.

"Ingrain may have saved you from Bide, but it prevented Carnivine from moving." Brendan explained.

"Hmmm maybe so, but this isn't over yet!" Gardenia called back Carnivine and pulled out another Pokéball. "Go!"

She threw the ball in the air and a big form appeared form the red light. A Tropius landed with its brown quadruped body, its body was covered in leafs on its chest and head almost like armor and a helmet. Larger four leaf like wings spread from its back and it has some banana like fruit growing form the top of its neck.

Brendan let out a whistle. "That's a big one, but it fall just as easily! Get close with Quick Attack again!" He called to Silverwing who once again began to charge.

"Blow it away with Gust!" Gardenia said.

Tropius flapped her big wings quickly in the direction of Silverwing. The big gust of wind easily knocked his balance off and sent him flying backwards.

"Now use Air Slash!" Gardenia called.

Tropius stopped her Gust and quickly slashed one of her wings forwards. A razor sharp blade of air pierced through the air towards Silverwing. The attack hit him before he could regain his balance. He crashed to the ground but he still got up.

"You alright?" Brendan asked to which the Flying type gave him a nod. But Brendan could see that did a lot of damage. "Okay, use Quick Attack one more time but stay low to the ground!"

Silverwing charged again, but kept as low as possible to the ground. Brendan thought maybe he could withstand Gust if the current would e weaker at ground level. But Gardenia didn't command another Gust attack like he thought she would, she just stood there watching her opponent get close to Tropius. Silverwing was about to land his attack.

"...Stomp."

At that word Tropius lifted the front of her body high, avoiding the Quick Attack to collide with her chest. She quickly brought herself back down, her foot landing right on Silverwing. The impact of Silverwing being brought to the ground was heard throughout the room. Tropius removed her foot to show that the bird was no longer conscious.

"Staravia is unable to battle!" The ref called.

"Why didn't you use Gust?" Brendan said as he called Silverwing back.

"I wanted to show you that it's good to use different strategies." Gardenia said, teaching him a lesson as gym leaders usually do. "Using the same thing over and over again makes you predictable."

"Point taken. Go Empress!" Brendan rereleased Empress from her ball. She still looked exhausted after Carnivine's barrage of attacks.

"This shouldn't take... long?" Gardenia noticed the Piplup's body began to glow with a blue aura around her.

"Good... it's still in effect." Brendan said.

"Is that... Torrent?" The leader asked.

"Yep, I switched her out before anyone could notice that it had taken effect. Now her water type moves are stronger."

"Maybe so but it won't do much against a grass type."

"We'll see... use Bubble!"

Empress shot out bubbles form her beck, but these ones were much bigger then they usually were, about twice the size of Empress, and glowed a light blue colour.

Gardenia didn't want to take the chance. "Take to the sky!"

"Don't aim for Tropius, aim around the room." Brendan said as Empress began to spin around and shot her giant bubbles everywhere.

As this was happening Gardenia noticed that while they were big the bubbles moved slow. "HA, I see a flaw in your plan. These bubbles are barley moving at all, some are just floating now."

"Oh I already knew about that." Brendan said getting her attention. "But now Tropius can't move much."

Gardenia looked up to see that Tropius was surrounded by bubbles, essentially created a minefield. Due to her large body her movement was restricted to just around her in the air.

"Now let's see just how strong these bubbles are, use a smaller Bubble attack to propel a bigger bubble at Tropius!"

Empress began to shoot smaller faster bubbles at one of the bigger ones, the small bubbles fused with it only to make it bigger and at the same time move it upward towards Tropius. Gardenia looked around to see if there was any room to evade, above Tropius there were not as many bubbles behind her.

"Fly up and move back, there's room there!" Tropius compiled and quickly moved to the safe spot and avoided the growing bubbled moving past her. The Bubble continued upwards until it hit the ceiling and popped. The bubble exploded on the ceiling causing it to crack slightly, being that the gym stadium was built to withstand attacks and it was cracked by this one worried Gardenia.

"That's not good." She said.

"Okay, Empress push all the bubbled towards her!" Brendan said.

Empress began to shoot more small bubbles at multiple big bubbles. As they got bigger from the smaller bubbles they fused with bigger bubbles that they collided into on their way, the open space around Tropius was getting much smaller. Gardenia and her partner were too shocked to make a move; they could only stare at what was happening. When the first bubble touched Tropius, the explosion caused a chain reaction to make all the other bubbles exploded around her. Detonating the entire minefield. The explosion resulted in a lot of smoke to appear in the air, Tropius soon feel from the smoke and crashed on the ground with a loud thud. Empress walked over to the fallen Pokémon to see how she was doing, while the ref made the call.

"Tropius is..." But he was cut off the Pokémon suddenly moving and grunting.

Tropius stood up, overshadowing her large body to the tiny Piplup in front of it. She was panting heavily having taken heavy damage.

'_Damn it, she resisted it more than I thought she would.' _Brendan thought.

"That's my girl, now Body Slam her!" Tropius jumped overhead Empress, and dropped down quicker than she could think to dodge.

Her large body landed right on top on the Piplup, Brendan looked worried she might be down because of all the damage from beforehand. Plus a Tropius was a big Pokémon so it would hurt regardless. Tropius lifted her body up to see if Empress was still conscious. Her eyes were still open and she was breathing heavily, she struggled to get herself up.

"Well well well, I'll commend you for a great effort." Gardenia said. "But you can't expect this to be easy. Tropius end this with Stomp."

Tropius slowly brought her foot up above Empress who just got back on her feet.

'_Last resort time.'_ "Empress Flail!"

"Fl-flail!" Gardenia said with shock.

Empress began to spin around rapidly and jumped at Tropius, parts of her body hitting her in random directly as the Piplup failed around aimlessly. Tropius recoiled with every hit that connected until finally Empress delivered one final blow that sent her airborne and crashing into the ground, fainted.

"Tropius is unable to battle, challenger Brendan is the winner!" The ref called.

"Flail is an attack that's stronger the more a Pokémon is weakened, were you planning that from the start?" Gardenia asked as she recalled Tropius.

"No, it was a final move in case things look bleak." Brendan said as he walked up to Empress. "You did great girl." He said as he hugged her.

"Well Brendan you've earned this." Gardenia walked over to him and held an object in her hand. "I present to you the Forest badge."

Brendan took the green badge shaped like three diamond trees. "Thank you."

"Well that was one heated battle, hopefully my next two opponents can provide just as much fun." Gardenia looked at Alex and Jessica on the sidelines. "So who's next?"

"ME!" Jessica stood up and shouted.

* * *

><p>Jessica soon took her place on the battlefield.<p>

"Okay, second time's the charm. Go Turtwig!" Gardenia threw her ball and released the turtle like grass type.

"Go Glacier." Jessica released the Lapras who landed on the ground with a thud.

"Okay, Turtwig use Razor Leaf!" Gardenia shouted. Turtwig then shot several sharp leaves towards Glacier.

"Ice Beam!"

Glaicer opened her mouth and a light blue ball appeared in her mouth and released a bolt of blue cold energy. The Ice Beam traveled across the ground, freezing the Razor Leaf attack in the process, the beam hit its mark on Turtwig who froze instantly. Everyone just stood there looking at the chuck of ice where Turtwig once was... after about ten seconds it began to crack. It soon broke apart to show Turtwig standing there with a frozen look on his face, who then fell over and fainted. Everyone looked dumbfounded at what just happened.

"Ummmm..." Gardenia muttered.

"Well... Turtwig is unable to battle!" The ref said.

"Damn... Glacier I didn't know you where that strong." Jessica praised the Lapras.

"_Aw you're making me blush."_ Glacier smiled at her.

"Okay." Gardenia recalled Turtwig. "Guess I'll have to adjust accordingly. Go!"

Gardenia sent out her second Pokémon. This one was large and covered in blue vines; the ones that resembled its arms were tipped red at the end. A small hole in the vines revealed its eyes and black skin.

"Alright Tangrowth, that Lapras is strong. Don't hold back!" Gardenia called out to Tangrowth who grunted in anticipation.

"We'll get that badge in no time, Ice Beam again!" Jessica shouted.

"Protect!"

Glaicer fired her Ice Beam again, while Tangrowth took up a defensive stance and a green transparent shield formed around him. The Ice Beam hit the shield only for it to be absorbed into it.

"Now use Growth!"

Tangrowth dropped the shield and began to grow even bigger in size. Not only just looking bigger but much stronger.

"Now AncientPower!"

Tangrowth summoned rocks that glowed white around him and hurled them at Lapras with a mystic power.

"Deflect them with Hydro Pump!"

Glacier shot high pressured water from her mouth, continuously firing and adjusting her aim to hit the incoming attack. She managed to get most of the rocks, but there were too many and it was too fast. Several of the rocks managed to hit her and she recoiled from the attack.

"Now quickly get in close and use Sleep Powder!" Gardenia called. Tangrowth began to dash toward the water and ice type who was still recovering from the last attack.

"Glacier, you need to focus. You've gotta freeze him before he gets to you!"

Glacier snapped back to reality and turned her eyes to the quickly approaching Tangrowth. The blue energy of ice was again charged in her, Tangrowth swung his arms back to fire his attack. But Glacier had a precious second extra of prep time and fired first. The Ice Beam hit Tangrowth and like Turtwig froze him instantly. Once again a chuck of ice lay on the battlefield... this time however it only remained that way for a second as it started to crack. The ice broke with Tangrowth leaping out of it, surprising both Glacier and Jessica. But that surprise was only added to as Tangrowth swung his arm and released a powder. The powder hit Glacier in the face, and after inhaling it she found herself to be drowsy. In only a second Glacier fell asleep.

"Oh no!" Jessica shouted.

Tangrowth fell to his knees, having taken heavy damage from that Ice Beam. Gardenia knew what she had to do.

"Nice work, now Giga Drain!" Gardenia said.

Tangrowth's red finger tips glowed green and shot out energy that stuck onto Glacier. Brighter stream of green went from the side in the Lapras into Tangrowth's fingers as he absorbed her energy.

"Glacier wake up!" Jessica shouted to her friend.

"Get as much as you can, use both hands!" Gardenia said as Tangrowth fired a second Giga Drain from his other hand.

"Come on Glacier, I need you to wake up!" Jessica shouted again but to no avail.

"Glacier!"

Her eyes slowly opened, and Tangrowth stopped his attack and watched as the Lapras lifted her head. However her eyes slowly began to close again and she fell back down unconscious.

"Lapras is unable to battle." The ref called.

"Darn, you did great Glacier." Jessica called her back. "I've still got the advantage here, go Toro!"

Toro ran from her side and onto the battlefield, jumping up and down in excitement.

"Use Ember!"

Toro shot many embers from its beck towards Tangrowth.

"Protect!"

The green energy shield formed around Tangrowth and absorbed the fire attack.

"Now use Rock Tomb!"

Tangrowth summoned a big rock from the ground and hurled it at Toro that broke into smaller but still large rocks in the air. Toro was about to get crushed.

"Use Aerial Ace to avoid it!" Jessica quickly called.

Toro ran at a speed that formed a cone around him and ran past the incoming rocks. Toro stopped to see that he had indeed succeeded in dodging them. But he soon got the feeling that something else was there, he turned to see that Tangrowth was standing right behind him.

"Power Whip!" Gardenia called.

Tangrowth's entire arm glowed green as he drew it back and whipped it at Toro with a mighty force. The little Torchic was easily knocked airborne and sent hurling through the air. Toro flew past the lines of the battle field and right towards a tree in the building. Toro crashed into the tree head on... right in between his legs. The sudden shocked expression on his face was all that was needed to tell the others where he got hit. Every cringed and an echo of awe of pain was heard as the poor Torchic began to slide down the tree.

"TORO!" Jessica ran over to him.

Brendan, who was now clutching his genitals, was still cringing. "That's got to hurt."

"I think I actually felt that." Alex said who was performing the same action as Brendan.

"(That makes my impact on the tree look harmless.)" Sheila said who felt sorry for her friend.

"(Its time likes this that makes me really glad I was born a girl.)" Cosmo said.

"(Oh I feel really bad right now.)" Tangrowth mourned.

"Ummm ref?" Gardenia asked. "What's the call for that?"

"I... I don't know. We never we're taught about this happening."

"Ummm Jessica?" Gardenia got her attention. "You wanna..."

"Ya, I-I forfit." Jessica decided this was enough. She called Toro back to his ball hoping that would dull the pain. "I uhhhh... I'm going to go the Pokémon center."

"That's probably for the best. Well... this has been an... eventful battle, I guess. You can come back tomorrow if you want."

"Thanks, I'll do that if everything is well." Jessica began to run out the down, but said one more thing. "I'll see you guys there!"

"So... Alex." Gardenia said to the last Trainer. "Do you still wanna do this?"

"Oh... ummm sure."

* * *

><p>"Okay... let's try to keep this clean this time." The ref said.<p>

"Go Cherrim!" Gardenia tossed her ball.

The Blossom Pokémon entered the field. Two large purple petal enclosed around the upper part of its body, a stem with a green spout on top of it. Beneath the petal was its two visible purple legs were its eyes could barley be seen.

"Okay, go Sheila." The Snivy hopped off Alex's shoulder and went on the battlefield. Making this battle a grass type vs. a grass type.

"Hi Sheila!"Gardenia called to her form across the battlefield, to which she replied with a 'hmph'. "Love ya girl!"

"Miss Gardenia, please be more professional about this." The ref said.

"Oh fine, as much as don't want to battle something so cute, I'll do what I must."

"Let's go first, Sheila use Tackle. Move in quick!" Sheila charged at Cherrim with speed that would rival a quick attack.

"Grass Knot!"

Cherrim's eyes glowed green, as she did blades of grass also glowed green and caused them to grow. The grass ahead of Sheila formed a knot. Causing the fast moving Snivy to tip and fall over to skid on the ground.

"Good now use Take Down!"

Cherrim started to charge at the downed Snivy. She eyed the approaching fellow grass type.

But Alex had wanted that. "Use Leer!"

Sheila's eyes flashed a glowing red right into Cherrim's eyes, causing her to stop in her tracks of fear.

"Wrap her in your vines; show her what it's like to be thrown to the ground!"

Sheila sent out both her vines and wrapped them around Cherrim. She picked her up and threw her over her shoulder to send her crashing into the ground. Cherrim did grunt in pain at the impact of the ground but she soon got up.

"It'll take more than that, use Magical Leaf!"

Cherrim's petals opened up to release several spinning green glowing energy leafs at Sheila.

"Defect it with Vine Whip!"

Sheila went to whip the incoming attack out of her way, but the leaves simply brushed past her vines and hit her dead on. Alex knew Magical leaf was hard to dodge as it homes in on its target but to even go past an interception like that was crazy. It must be under some kind of control from Cherrim. Luckily Sheila resisted most of the damage from the attack though.

"Do it again, Magical Leaf rapid fire!"

Alex needed to think of a way to break Cherrim's focus, a way to put its mind somewhere else.

'_Wait, I already know how.' _"Sheila use Leer!"

Sheila eyes glowed red again, producing the same scared effect on Cherrim as before.

'Now run, dodge and duck through the center of the leaves!" Sheila gave Alex a confused look. "Trust me."

"What are you doing Alex?" Gardenia asked herself.

Sheila wasn't sure what was going on but she complied. Sheila ran straight through the barrage of leaves, weaving around as many as she could. Some still managed to hit her but she pulled through.

Once she was past the leaves Alex gave another command. "Now Tackle Cherrim."

Sheila quickly ran to the Pokémon who was still affected by the Leer and tackled her in the center of her body.

"Now jump over her!"

"Oh a sneak attack, Cherrim you can..." Gardenia stopped as she noticed what else was about to happen.

Sheila jumped over the knocked over Cherrim; she had gotten up to see her opponent jump over for but for what? But then she heard something approaching her from behind, she turned to see the remaining leaves coming right at her. Sheila had led them directly at her! The remaining leaves bombarded Cherrim and mad her fall again, fainted.

"Cherrim is unable to battle!" The ref called.

"Not bad Alex, you turned my own attack against me." Gardenia recalled Cherrim. 'However, I've got a special friend here just for you."

Gardenia released her final Pokémon. A green bipedal Pokémon appeared on the field. The legs, arms and lower face a light green. Its masquerade mask and dress that with a small cape coloured a darker green. White spiky sepal hair. A yellow collar and yellow feet and for its hands were bouquets of flowers, red for the right and blue for the left.

"Allow me to introduce my favorite grass type, Roserade." Gardenia said.

"(Hello there. Mmmm, you're a cute one.)" The bouquet Pokémon said to Alex.

Alex had never seen this Pokémon before; he didn't exactly have time to think about it though. "You still good Sheila?"

Sheila nodded at him. "Okay then, use Tackle!" Sheila charged at her.

"Block it!"

Roserade took up a defensive stance and let the attack hit, she cringed a bit from the damage but quickly shook it off. Sheila jumped back ready for the next attack but suddenly her body felt strange. The chest of her body was now glowing purple!

"Poison! Sheila you've been poisoned! But how?"

"Roserade ability is Poison Point, when the opponent comes in contact with her it could poison them." Gardenia explained, but now had a devious look in her eyes. "Not only are grass types weak to poison but..."

Roserade's bouquet began to glow purple, already knowing what she had to do next, showing that they have used this strategy before.

"... there's a move that's power is increased if the target is poison."

Roserade shot out a purple electric like energy from her bouquet, it traveled to fast for Sheila to react. The bolt surged inside her, igniting the poison like a fire. Her body began to shake back and forth like it was being thrown around in a washing machine, only she stood in the same spot. Once it stopped her body remained motionless as she stood there with her head facing the ceiling. After a few moments her body fell to the floor, fainted.

"Sheila!" Alex ran over to her.

"Snivy is unable to battle!" The ref called.

Alex picked her up, she was still breathing and seemed fine overall but the poison was still in her.

"Here."

Alex looked up to see something was thrown at him. he caught it to see it was a Pecha berry. Gardenia had giving him a cure for Sheila's poison.

"Well give it to her, let's get this going." She said.

Alex did feed it to her, but he couldn't help but notice Gardenia's change in attitude. Why was she so focused on this battle more than anything else and even being tougher? Alex walked back to his spot on the field where Cosmo was waiting.

"Are you ready for this?" Cosmo nodded to him. "Okay, I'll be here for you."

Cosmo glided onto the battlefield, Gardenia's smile grew at this.

"This is what I've been waiting for."

"What do you mean?" Alex asked.

"I've been hoping to battle against Cosmo, it's why Roserade is here."

"I still don't understand."

"Let me tell you one of the most exciting things that can happen in a Pokémon battle Alex, something I've only properly been able to witness twice in my life." Gardenia said. "When two Pokémon that are very powerful battle while they each hold an advantage over each other. Much like how the stories of the legendaries fought, each holding a weakness their opponent, which was stronger? Who was able to overcome their weakness? I've seen this thrilling scene happen before and it just filled my soul with adrenaline. But I've yet to have my own battle of this yet, don't disappoint me Cosmo. "

"Yes a Psychic type is strong against a Poison type like Roserade... however."

"However..." Alex said, now knowing her reason for her change in behaviour.

"A Gardevoir is also a Fairy type... and Poison is strong against Fairy! Use Sludge Bomb!" Gardenia shouted.

Roserade's bouquet glowed a dark purple and she fired a ball of poison at Cosmo.

"Teleport!"

Cosmo put her hands together and quickly vanished and evaded the attack witch hit right where she was standing and caused an explosion of poison, killing the grass in the area. Cosmo reappeared to the side of the field.

"Confusion!"

Cosmo swung her hands at the ground and lifted them upwards, creating a beam of psychic energy that travelled on the ground cracking the ground as it moved.

"Jump!"

Roserade took a leap in the air over the incoming attack, which passed under her.

"We've got her now, Cosmo Psychic!"

Cosmo focused on Roserade and prepared to grab her with her telekinetic force in the air.

"Flash!"

Roserade illuminated a bright light from her bouquet that shined in Cosmo's eyes. She was forced to advert her gaze and lost her focus. When the light faded Roserade was already charging at her with her bouquet glowing purple again, intending to use an attack at point blank. Instinctively Cosmo used Double Team and Roserade passed right threw her. Gardenia shouted to attack in all directions and she began to fire sludge bombs at every copy she saw. Alex could see where Cosmo truly was like he always could when she used Double Team and once Roserade was firing in the opposite direction...

"Psychic!"

Cosmo's double disappeared as she fired a strong telekinetic force right into Roserade's back. She was knocked off her feet and began to roll on the ground but this turned out to be an act as she aimed one last Sludge Bomb at Cosmo while she was rolling, hitting her directly in the face making an explosion that sent her back but she landed on her feet by gliding down. Roserade got back on her feet while Cosmo whipped away the poison from her face.

"While she's distracted use Grass Knot!" Gardenia shouted.

Roserade's eyes glowed green and the grass around Cosmo grew and wrapped around her legs.

"Teleport out of there!"

"(No you don't!)" Roserade said as she gave a flick of her wrist and made grass wrap around one of Cosmo's arms.

Cosmo need to put her hands together to teleport but now one was tied down, she was trapped!

"I think this is checkmate, Roserade... use Poison Jab!" Gardenia said.

Both of Roserade's bouquets glowed purple as she ran to Cosmo, she uppercut her right one into her chest, jumping to increase the thrust. Cosmo let out a gasp as the air was knocked out of her. As Roserade came back she use her left bouquet to deliver one final blow to the side of Cosmo's face. The force knocked her out of the Grass Knot trap and onto the ground, fainted.

"Gardevoir is unable to battle, the winner is leader Gardenia!" The ref called.

Alex walked over to his fallen friend. "Hey are you alright?"

Cosmo eyes fluttered open to see Alex standing over her. She felt bad that she let him down she couldn't even look him in the eye.

"Don't be like that; I'm not upset in the slightest. How could I be?" Alex said as he pet her. "How about you though, did you have fun?"

Cosmo thought about it, while she may be hurt she knows she's fine. No serious injuries and she can still move. And fighting that Roserade gave her a thrilling excitement; it was almost like how Gardenia said it would be. Cosmo smiled to Alex and nodded.

"I'm glad, alright let's get you up." Alex lifted her up and wrapped her arm around his should as she leaned on him. She didn't want to give Alex the burden of carrying her but she rather liked his warm touch.

"Whew, that was something!" Gardenia walked over. "I wish it could have lasted longer, but you can't take these things for granted. Enjoy them while you can."

"You're brutal you know that?"

"Hey I wouldn't be a Gym Leader if I was easy."

"I'll be back tomorrow just you wait."

Gardenia smiled. "Oh, I'm looking forward to it."

* * *

><p>"Guess you're the only one of us who made any progress today." Alex said to Brendan.<p>

They left the gym and were now walking to the Pokémon center to heal and meet up with Jessica, with Cosmo still leaning on Alex's shoulder.

"Think of it this way, you've learned stuff from this experience and you'll do better next time." Brendan said.

"I still think you had an advantage because you already knew who the gym leader was."

"I only knew who she was and what kind of Pokémon on her team, none of her strategies."

"So you didn't have a plan?" Alex asked.

"No, I did. I had some plans ready for battle that could be used in a many situations, could use some refining though as I almost lost. But it looked like you and my sister just winged it."

"Pretty much."

"I could help you think of some strategies if you want."

"If you think it will help."

"Ok, can I see your Pokédex then to know what we've got to work with?" Brendan asked.

"Sure." Alex reached into his pocket and pulled out his Pokédex.

Brendan took it and began to look through Cosmo and Sheila's data. He stopped as he noticed something.

"What's wrong?" Alex said who stopped too.

"Alex... you're telling me you've had this at your disposable the whole time and you never thought to use it?" Brendan showed him the Pokédex and pointed where he was looking.

"Oh ya... I forgot about that."

**. . .**

**There it is, FINALLY AM I RIGHT?**

**And yes, Alex lost. In case it wasn't established yet but this isn't going to be a series where the main character always wins, otherwise what's the point of even putting in battles? So now you know, there is always a chance for either side to win. That's actually one thing I think the anime does right, Ash can actually lose. I've seen stories where the main character always wins no matter what and because of that I'm so uninterested by the battle that I actually skip over them. So by adding the suspense of the there always being a chance of lose it will be interesting.**

**Ok so I could give you a million excuses for why this took so long... and I actually do have just one this time.**

**You see people I made short story that I worked really hard on, I even told you guys about it at one point. Yet, it only has two reviews (mine doesn't count b/c I was trying to respond to a guest that was poorly trying to flame me... I later realized he was trolling) so by that it seems that only two people actually read it. And I gotta be honest people... that really killed my motivation. Did you not like it? Was there a reason you didn't read it? If you don't tell me these things then I won't be able to change them or fix them.**

**You may call this a cry for attention or think of me as a whiner but that's the truth. That is the sole reason why this took so long.**


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